Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Album Review: Endless Floods - Circle The Gold

Endless Floods
Circle The Gold
**and1/2 out of *****

The doom metal band Endless Floods newest effort is a move towards more melodic travelings from 2017's more drone laden II. The French trio still lumber and take their time getting anywhere, Circle of Gold is two tracks running over forty minutes, but now the group inserts flashes of hope among the sonic rubble.

The band (Stéphane Miollan - Bass & Vocals Simon Bédy - Guitar Benjamin Sablon - Drums) crawl ahead, opening up with the huge drum hits of the title track before vocal wails are buried under the trudging sound. The effort devolves into sparse feedback and the odd cymbal drum hit about six minutes in before slowly and blissfully climbing up the muddy banks to evolve into a dense buzz laden beast standing on two legs around the eleven minute mark. The track brings back distorted screams from Miollan, but vocals act more as sonic tapestry, deciphering the words is impossible but the title track climbs high to close, finishing on a positive note.

The follow up "Seeds" continues the assault with layers of feedback drums and low end to break upon the eardrum like waves as the trio sail towards brighter skies. The same pattern is back as the song empties into sparseness around the six minute mark again, with just a drum and various notes of a guitar keeping the song afloat before things turn around. The difference this time is the guitars hold course while the drums of Sablon take the lead moving in different directions to right the ship. Their are both ominous sojourns and noise interludes over the twenty minute adventure but the style remains the same.     

Endless Floods are moving towards a more inclusive sound with their doom laden, slow numbers and there is a sense of coming out of the darkness on these two tracks. That said, it is not the easiest to digest if you are not a fan of this style of metal. Those who enjoy the plodding, loud, mammoth simple structures will find the rumblings soothing Circle The Gold's sheer force of sound.
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Support the band, buy the album (the album will be released Friday 2/15) while FVTV Recordings has posted the full album for you to preview now:

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