By John Bedard
There is something oddly nostalgic about this album. I never really listened to this style of music growing up so I’m not sure why this brings me back to old muscle cars in southern California, but it just feels right for that environment. There is a great old school flair to this that just makes the album fit into any situation. There are a few different styles here that it is hard to pin down where the inspiration comes from. Sometimes there is a blues or jazz-like arrangement and sometimes it is straight-up rock and roll there are even little hints of country-western. It is a very unique experience.
I really enjoy Ancient VVisdom’s use of clean guitars in some of these songs. Particularly in ‘Will To Destroy’ it has a really nice mellow charm to it. Other songs have that nice overdriven tube distortion. It sounds somewhat like the distortion is in the power amp section rather than the pre-amp. I could be totally off the wall there but the distortion has a dark warmth and does not sound like what we normally hear in most gain sections. It is something unique. I really like the tone. Especially the way it contrasts the clean and slightly boosted tones that are also present. Very well done.
Another thing that is very well done is the vocals. I love the dark bassy tone of his voice here. It somewhat reminds me of very old school country, kind of like Johnny Cash except over way better music. These vocals mixed with this darker music is perfect. There is still a lot of variety in the vocals as well, most of it is that slower spoken-word style but there are also some higher sung vocals. They complement each other really well.
This album I think is a must-have. It drips with passion and has that glorious dark ominous feeling I have come to love in music. It is so atmospheric and the whole thing just feels so right. This is the kind of album that I think we will look back on. I think our kids will talk about it in 20 years and say that they listen to oldies like their dad the same way many of us do that today when talking about AC/DC and Black Sabbath. This album has all the making of a classic. I loved every track and I think you will as well.
- ‘Mundus’ is released on Friday (27 September). You can get your copy HERE.
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.