ALBUM REVIEW: Onward Strides Colossus – Merlock
Nestled in the North West corner of the United States is the state of Washington, and the city of Spokane. Located on the Spokane River, which is known for its roaring waterfalls, the city is surrounded by a vast array of picturesque North American landscapes, and this is the home to MERLOCK. Creating imposing soundscapes that embrace shadows that lie in the murky depths of psychedelic and doom, MERLOCK manifests itself as a formidable Kraken, willing to drag you to the depths of the ocean with its raw power and mighty strength. Onward Strides Colossus follows on from the band’s 2021 brooding full-length debut You Cannot Be Saved, and the band have self-proclaimed it as a triumphant “hero’s journey” with all the trials and tribulations in between.
Conceptually, Onward Strides Colossus is set in a post-human world with a post-doom atmosphere, lyrically exploring the cycles of death and rebirth, varying notions of hell, and a journey of self-actualisation alongside the experiences that shape and reshape people. Yet at the core of all of these themes is the search for truth, no matter what form it comes in. MERLOCK create a sonic environment in which all of these concepts melt together in mind bending ways. You can imagine yourself surrounded by the collapse of humanity, a dark and sombre world, but you can feel the hope bubbling up inside yourself as you know that you have the strength to survive. It could be argued that MERLOCK have poetically captured the incredible journey that many of us undertake in our lives. All lofty pretensions aside, there is a down-to-earth realism that binds this album together as well as its powerful riffs and thunderous rhythms.
Compared to You Cannot Be Saved, Onward Strides Colossus sounds much more streamlined and focused. The band have introduced a stronger, bluesier influence to their music as well as feeling significantly more comfortable in the psychedelic areas of their sound, and as a result this has expanded the scope of their formidable soundscapes. With this in mind, it can be confidently said that MERLOCK are really beginning to find their stride as this album has ginormous presence that transcends each track.
You can hear the blood, sweat and tears that MERLOCK have put into this album; every song feels like they have unrelentingly gone all in with nothing to lose and in this instance it has worked incredibly well. Onward Strides Colossus as a whole is a considerable elevation in the band’s sound and feels like a truer representation of their musical selves. It feels like they are using their failures and successes to drive this album, and by osmosis this gives the album a wonderfully human feel beneath its layers of eeriness and ominous atmospheres.
With a building bass groove erupting into a bluesy, psychedelic fever dream, Sovereign Throne opens the album with luscious layers of colour. It eventually builds into a hypnotic riff-fest, with Taylor D. Waring’s soaring vocal melodies leading the charge. Leading into Sunnbarren, MERLOCK bring forward some of the elements of the preceding track but ultimately focus on creating a thunderous doom epic. Long, droning, distorted chords ring through your skull as they hit like sledgehammers alongside the drums. Behold! The Sword Of Lock picks up the energy significantly; as if something has ripped a hole in the fabric of the cosmos, it bursts through like a raging bull. With chaotic, swirling riffs this track sounds like the tumultuous adventure of a D&D hero who has somehow ended up in the darkest recesses of the abyss with no weapon.
Where No One Goes gently brings you back down from the frantic heights of the previous track and reverts back to the titanic doom that was established on Sunnbarren. An ominous intro incrementally builds into booming doom that shakes the very ground it walks on, and once the groove is locked in it’ll be hard not to move your body to it. Somniloquy is probably the more melancholic track on the album, as it ventures surprisingly into shoegaze territory. Title track and album closer Onward Strides Colossus is a gargantuan and triumphant track that consolidates the album perfectly – a rich tapestry that covers all of the album’s themes and underlines them with a sense of hope and strength.
Onward Strides Colossus is an exciting progression for the Spokane trio. They’ve richly expanded their sound and stepped into a whole new creative realm where they erupt with passionate fervour for their craft. While the album overall doesn’t break any new ground, it does have its own distinctive sound which will no doubt appeal to many fans of the genre. However, with these new foundations laid, it will be interesting to see where MERLOCK dare to venture next.
Rating: 7/10
Onward Strides Colossus is set for release on February 24th via self-release.
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