ALBUM REVIEW: Live At Freak Valley – Conan
Chin stroking music writers will often deliberate about what ‘the point’ of a live album is. No matter the format, be it wax, tape, or digital aether, there is no format capable of capturing the essential spark that makes seeing a band live such a magnetic experience. No recording, no matter how well engineered or mastered, can capture ‘it’ as well as the human ear. As said music writers deliberate, CONAN, Britain’s finest purveyors of caveman battle doom, batter down the door and bludgeon any trivial debates to powder with the sheer fuzzrocious weight of latest live release Live At Freak Valley. Recorded in June 2017 at (obviously) the Freak Valley festival, this release stands as a testament to the titanic trio’s sonic fury, and gets closer than many live releases to capturing the essential nature of the band’s atavistic, primal rawness.
Opener Gravity Chasm stands as possibly one of the most aptly named songs in music history – a wall of feedback is punctured by clattering, bouncing drums before a cave-in of tone crashes down with leaden finality. It’s like being sucked into an industrial blender that’s run through a Big Muff effects pedal. Jon Davis’ strident yelps do battle with infrasound riffs that swell and roil beneath a thick fuzz crust, so deep you almost register them with your subconscious before your ear.
Throne of Fire is CONAN at their most rampant, sweeping you along in an irresistible, cloven-hoofed charge, guitar and bass a united front, like two entwined, gauntlet-clad fists clubbing you. Chris Fielding’s grave and gravelly bellows sit as a dense substrate below Davis’ vocals, before the track collapses into groaning, grinding chords. Thunderhoof truly glowers, huge riffs and hissing, clashing cymbals mixing with triumphant bellows leaving the listener feeling that the cheers from the live crowd that bookend the track were worthily earned.
Battle In The Swamp takes enormous strides, powered by churning riffs and Dan Mullins’ skilful fills and clattering snare. CONAN at times reverses the drum/guitar rhythmic dynamic, with riffs doing much of the rhythmic heavy lifting, allowing king to occupy the ‘melodic’ space with his own riffs and touches. The track sucks down into a mire of fuzz, endlessly descending as kick drums spasm like a gigantic heartbeat. Hawk As Weapon brings death from the skies as the trio bend a raw torrent of tone to their will before the song slows steadily like a wearied, wounded beast.
Satsumo grinds and chugs as an eternal, heaving loop, briefly mutating and speeding up before returning once more to doomier tempos. Shot through with hopeless shrieks and lances of feedback, it rallies for a final, foam-flecked driving riff. Foehammer swings hard, a pachyderm charge that runs through peaks and valleys pf mountainous fizz and hypnotic, growling guitars.
Total Conquest pulses with kicks under phasing chords, orbiting high above before crashing down to earth with pulverising tone. Smashing through to bury itself in subterranean riffs, it’s a madcap descent, whipped along by frantic drumming and barking vocals. Final act Revengeance sees the band struggling to keep a leash on the track’s raw, chaotic fury, with the song threatening to bolt from under them before descending into a squall of fuzzed out near-psychedelia.
What stands out from Live At Freak Valley is just how well mixed it is, how phenomenally good it sounds. Not just ‘for a live album’ (where shoddy mixes can ruin classic sets), but even sitting alongside the rest of CONAN’s peerlessly mastered back catalogues. The trio sound at turns crushing, massive, towering, a band in their prime, with the set list acting as a true ‘best of’, pulling from their discography of modern doom classics. Live albums usually fall as fan service, something appreciated by the collector or the completionists. Live At Freak Valley stands as an essential listen, not just for fans of CONAN, but for heavy music as a whole. To quote the band – ‘Flawless victory’.
Rating: 9/10
Live At Freak Valley is set for release March 12th via Napalm Records.
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