ALBUM REVIEW: Chaos and Catastrophe – Ravine
Portland Oregon’s RAVINE, a band featuring members of the likes of SKULLDOZER, ROBOTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD and BRICK BATH amongst their ranks were formed of a shared love of southern-fried sludge. Since forming in 2018 they’ve released a self titled EP in 2020 and garnered critical acclaim from none other than Jimmy Bower, who praised them as being “extremely brutal.” Now they unleash their powerful debut full length, Chaos And Catastrophe on the world via purveyors of all things low and slow, Ripple Music.
This is an album that reeks of sweat, stale cigarettes, bong water, and whiskey. It was made to grace the jukeboxes of the roughest of metal pins, to pierce through the din of breaking glasses and the grunts of burly, bearded men. Conjure opens with a slow and gruelling doom riff before picking up pace into a galloping riff that rides roughshod over the majority of the song’s first half. Then into a dark blues jam reminiscent of the kind of stuff DOWN were laying down on their first couple of albums. Contagion channels HIGH ON FIRE at their heaviest, a filthy sweat drenched bit of thrash rollicks along for the first few minutes before a granite slab of doom is dropped and the pace slows to a gruelling crawl.
The production and performances and rough around the edges to say the least. On Deliver, for example, with its stomping doom attack, Nico Schmutz and Justin Morgan’s guitars often lag ever so slightly behind Matt Amott’s loose handed beat. Vocalist Paul Dudziak‘s throaty bellow, which is somewhere between Matt Pike and Glenn Danzig, sound like they were recorded live with as few takes as possible. These imperfections are clearly artistic choices rather than sloppiness on their part and only add character to the songs. This kind of music isn’t supposed to be sanitised and over produced, and serves as a refreshing antidote to the often sterile state of modern metal.
Long song lengths and repetitive riffs are tropes of the stoner and doom genres but on songs like the aforementioned opener, they could probably stand to trim some of the fat from the flabby song structures, or at least chuck a couple more twists and turns to warrant the seven-minute-plus run times. RAVINE may not be breaking many boundaries with Iommian riffs like on Ennui, with its haunting diminished fifths. They’re not shy to admit that the band was formed over a shared love of bands like DOWN, CROWBAR and EYEHATEGOD, who in turn owe their dues to, well, BLACK SABBATH. But RAVINE tread the well worn paths with steely determination. And where they go, many riff worshippers are sure to follow, finding comfort and solace in the familiarity of those riff-filled lands.
It’s not all doom-by-numbers though; the enigmatic closer Prophecy does switch things up a bit with its bluesy, psychedelic induced atmospherics and soaring lead sections. Again, it could lose a couple of minutes from its nine and a half minute run time but it’s a trip nonetheless. Chaos And Catastrophe may not be breaking any new ground but it’s a promising debut from a band who are sure to appeal of low down and dirty, SABBATH worshipping metal.
Rating: 6/10
Chaos And Catastrophe is out now via Ripple Music.
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