header_image
AATHMA  The Call Of Shiva  CD   (Odio Sonoro)   11.98


It's an interesting variation of monolithic, crawling, ultra-down tuned war-sludge that this Spanish trio offers up on their debut full length, put out by the doomanoids over at Odio Sonoro. The six songs on The Call Of Shiva deliver CRUSHING asphalt-coated riffs that are obviously influenced by the Matt Pike school of heaviosity, nothing too technical and exactly the kind of mega-doom heaviness that you'd expect from anything with the Odio Sonoro stamp of approval, just massive droning slabs of mega heavy sludge and pounding mid-paced drumming, the sound relentlessly crushing. I'm hearing some Crowbar influence in here, too, and the deep, gruff vocals definitely remind me of the NOLA sludge metallers. Where Aathma distinguish themselves is the shift in vocal styles that comes in on the first track; that opener is plodding, doom-laden crush, equal parts High On Fire and Crowbar, incredibly heavy and leaden, but then the song suddenly shifts gears about halfway in, the sludge turning into a droning melodic riff, and then the vocalist starts singing in this deep dramatic voice, sort of like those of recently deceased Type O Negative front man Pete Steele. This crushing goth-tinged sludge begins to get increasingly more melancholy as the riff grinds on, the sound becoming more distorted and blown, becoming a blast of raging distorted noise at the end of the track.

Those deep baritone Type O-esque vocals continue to add an unconventional dimension to Aathma's sound, which as the album progresses, begins to add in the moodier gothic parts of Neurosis and the heaviest riffs from Streetcleaner-era Godflesh and early Isis alongside the crushing war-sludge. Heavy stuff, with some of the standout tracks including the moodier goth-sludge of "Snowdream" and "The End of the Snake". And "Oaks" ranks as one the heaviest jams on here, sounding like the band has taken the main riff from Nirvana's "Negative Creep" and slowed it down to 1/10th speed and tuned it to C, and "Voice" opens with some ominous piano chords that lead into the brooding deep vocals and dark slowcore spaciousness, but then morphs into more of that HOF-esque sludge. Every track on here is a crusher, until you reach the closer "Shiva The Destroyer", which ends the disc with five minutes of abstract improv-drone, random heavy tribal drums and distant whispers and swirling dark ambience and eerie effects unfurling in a trance inducing dose of formless doomdrone heaviness.


Track Samples:
Sample :
Sample :
Sample :