Reviews: Pantheïst, Bask, Patriarchs In Black, Innumerable Forms (Matt Bladen & Rich Piva)

Pantheïst - 25 Years Of Pantheïsm (Ardua Music) [Matt Bladen]

To celebrate their 25th anniversary as a band Pantheïst are releasing a two disc collection of rare, demo, deep cuts and never before released tracks from their quarter of a century existence. Compiled, crafted and (nearly all) composed by band founder/leader and main sorcerer of sadness Kostas Panagiotou.

Pantheïst have gone through many formations, been based in different countries and have released numerous records, playing gigs across Europe to a loyal fan based who were delighted when they decided to become a live actually again just after the pandemic. 

This resurgence in live activity has led to many rediscovering the band or like myself experiencing them for the first time and falling in love with the atmospheric doom that they do so well, there's a strong classical and liturgical influence to what they do, Kostas' keys and organs striking chords only heard within churches while the synths adopt the dynamics of the great 80's masters. 

I've often called the band Vangelis goes doom and much of that can be heard here. Be it the instrumental ambience of tracks such as Praeludium or Descendance from the unreleased 2000 demo, to Fthagn-Nagh which was featured on a level for the videogame Quake. 

Then there's Warping Space-Time which takes the Pantheïst sound into the brain frying drone of Sunn O))) which features The Watcher of Fen on guitar, the use of variations on keys/synths/organs etc throughout is a cornerstone of the bands style.

This album moves chronologically, from 2000 right up until present day the demos showing how many of these tracks came about before they were featured on albums as the straight ahead metallic moments evolve into more progressively minded ones (Broken Statue), later on the two sides merge together to into the style we have come to expect from this constantly evolving, rule bending outfit. 

For long time fans hearing the demos and original takes of these songs is where the excitement lies, comparisons to the recorded versions can be made throughout, with tracks such as 1453: An Empire Crumbles performed in a different way that has Kostas and Andy Koski-Semmens sharing vocals and current guitarist Atanas to re-recording the guitars to make it very different from their original. 

As to is the version of Wilderness here, with Nereide (Hidden in Eternity) on guitars and again takes a different approach from the original track. 

Everyone knows I love a cover so I was delighted there was a few features here that are just as diverse as the band themselves, from the synth driven version of Katatonia's For Funerals To Come, then there's De Regen Voorbij a heavy cover of an obscure Rob De Nijs track, while Steve Hackett's Shadow Of The Hierophant becomes a mournful movement are arranged by Jeremy Lewis (Mesmur, Della Nabia). 

To finish the compilation we're brought up to date with a piano driven version of Be Here which features Linda Dumitru's operatic vocals giving a new level of emotion, it's spine tingling, showcasing the songwriting purely and without the full cinematic scale of instruments and long run time, much like how Cash turned Hurt into his own, Linda does the same with this truncated stripped back arrangement. 

The pre-production demo of long imagined track The Final Journey points to where Pantheïst will go from here, the addition of Linda's operatic vocals along with the now well versed band of Atanas Kyurkchiev (guitars), Fanel Lefterache (drums) and Matt Strangis (bass) finally gives it the dimension it needs, having heard this song live and in its raw form here it is going to be devastating when finished properly. 

25 years is just the beginning, there is still plenty to come from Pantheïst, perhaps in their most potent formation to date, this retrospective is not eulogy, but a testimonial of resilience. 9/10

Bask - The Turning (Season Of Mist) [Rich Piva]

The new album from Asheville, North Carolina’s Bask is gigantic. That is the best way to describe the fourth album from a band who is very difficult to describe, but one good word to cover what they do is “awesome”. 

The music on their new album, The Turning, is breath taking, leveraging everything from doom, heavy psych, post hardcore, and even genres like emo, Americana, and folk, all while always being heavy as hell, in their own way.

The record opens with an instrumental intro track that sets you up for one of the biggest sounding openers of the year, In The Heat  Of The Dying Sun. There is so much heavy beauty going on within this one track it is hard to put it into words, but the song just engulfs you in a wall of sound that can only sound like Bask. 

  The Traveler is up next and has a complex rhythm, leading to a Huntsmen meets Midwest early emo vibe in all of the best sorts of ways possible. I love the echoed vocals and how the track seems to be constantly building, destroying, then building again. 

The Cloth has this kind of American Western vibe in the guitar work, partnered with a back and forth of chunky riffing, all partnered with killer vocals. Banjo too!!! Not too many bands could use bajo in their heavy rock like Bask can. I love when this one gets all frantic towards the end. 

When I say emo, it is meant as a complement, and there is some more of it going on in the post hardcore/emo beauty of the song Dig My Heals, which has a killer melody and excellent vocal patterns. The change mid-way through Dig My Heals is the most drastic one, where you get some piano to go with all of the rest of the beauty, reminding me of something off of False Cathedrals by Elliott. 

Unwound is seven beautiful minutes of why Bask’s complex sounds and arrangements makes them extremely difficult to compare to any band in any scene today. Equal parts Baroness and Sensefield is what I hear on this one, and what a glorious combination that makes. Long Lost Night musically sounds like something off of one of Nick Cave’s 90s records with a My Morning Jacket thing to go along with it. 

See what I mean about Bask’s sound? I have never thought about those two bands at the same time. The closer title track has some of the best guitar work on the record and I once again hear a My Morning Jacket but heavier and more prog vibe, and it is glorious.

I struggled with this review, not because I don’t love The Turning, because I do. I just had a hard time putting into words what this record sounds like, because no one truly sounds like Bask. 

This point is proven even further with their amazing new record that is a complex, expertly played journey leveraging the best of multiple genres that makes up Bask’s unique and killer sound. 9/10

Patriarchs In Black - Home (Metalville) [Rich Piva]

Patriarchs In Black have not been a project for long, but they have managed to hammer out a whole bunch of material, including their fourth full-length album, Home, this month. The project only started to release music in 2022, so the four LPs and a bunch of singles and covers show how busy these guys have been. 

It’s not like the core members of the band are any kind of rookies, with to duo of Dan Lorenzo (Cassius King, Vessel Of light, and other projects) on guitar and the legendary Johnny Kelly from Type O Negative on drums, the guys bring in all sorts of great guest to play on their records, with the new one, Home, doubling down on this. 

The band’s overall sound is what you might expect from these guys, which is killer heavy doom, expertly played and with great production. But the cool thing about a PIB record is that you really never know what you are going to get from song to song. 

For some, this could create quite the disjointed experience, but PIB know what they are doing and are able to minimize this potential negative and actually thrive on it.

Opening up the album we have a chunky doom track with some Trouble vibes, which makes sense given current Trouble singer, and also front man for Alabama Thunderpussy and Exhorder, Kyle Thomas, takes his turn up front a just kills this gloriously doomy track. 

Vocalist Mark Sunshine (Unida!) takes four tracks, with his high octave, wide range, and snotty delivery, my favourite of the four of his, Burn Through Time, is some nice and dirty doom, with an NYC heavy feel to it. He also performs on the spooky, sparse, and grungy Celestial Yard (more violin!), and the acoustic driven Pointed Fire which is also killer. Mark has a great and unique voice. 

Dewey Bragg from Kill Devil Hill has a short, AIC-like but with violin track that acts more as a cool transition to Kaos, one of the heavier tracks on the record with some great guitar work from Lorenzo and a voice we have heard on previous PIB material, Kelly Abe, who brings some rapping to the heaviness. 

Storm King has my favourite riff on the record, and Joe Ferrara’s vocals are killer. DMC is back for more, and he partners with David Freis on vocals and Sarah Sovak on vocals/flute and is my favourite contribution the innovator of rap/rock combo has done till date. 

My favourite riff is on the NYC Hardcore leaning Ready To Die, that sounds like Life Of Agony and Biohazard (sung by Kelly Abe) and given my tastes I am certainly here for it. Rob Traynor (Black Water Rising) has what is the most old school doom track on the record, until it is not, when then we have a stoner groove going, on Shadows Grasp, another strong one. 

Lorenzo must be an old school Trouble fan, given the riff on Sweet Blood, with Sunshine back on the mic for this old school doom track. My favourite song on the record is The Call, an excellent doom track with one of my favourite vocalists of any genre, Karl Agell of Lie Heavy and COC, to name a few, belting out the vocals for this amazing addition.

Overall, while a tad long, there is so much cool stuff going on. Using a bunch of different vocalists can make a record sound scattered, but Patriarchs In Black manage to keep it all flowing cohesively. Home is another killer record from a project that really churns out the music. Let’s hope Dan and Johnny don’t take the foot off the petal anytime soon. 8/10

Innumerable Forms - Pain Effulgence (Profound Lore Records) [Matt Bladen]

Formed of members from Dream Unending, Sumerlands, Iron Lung, Power Trip, Mammoth Grinder and Genocide Pact, Innumerable Forms are a death/doom band who veer toward the death played slowly.

Pain Effulgence is their third album and they don’t rip up the rule book and start playing prog, no they stick to melancholic, nihilistic death doom ala the 90’s Peaceville trio as well as the Scandinavian scene of that time, writing music that is monolithic and melodic.

Indignation for instance is a glacial shuffle that often switches into extreme battery, this trick is oft repeated the conflicting sounds of death and doom butting heads as Blotted Inside rampages with double kicks and dive bomb guitars while Dissonant Drift starts out slow but halfway through flips the switch and the death metal goes wild again.

The guitars mournful, the vocals guttural but there's room for clean leads, in fact there's loads of room as every song has searing hot lead guitars in between the claustrophobic heaviness. Veterans of their scenes, Pain Effulgence is Innumerable Forms in impenetrable form. 7/10