ALBUM REVIEW: Revengeance – Conan
WORDS: David Creamer
From the most barbaric wasteland (not a pun about Liverpool) there comes the lowest rumbling from which no one from this world is ready to comprehend. It rends, it tears and it sure is ready to destroy at least a large percentage of your hearing. But afterwards, when your hearing is limited to only a very low frequency, you can smile with glee as you realise you can now devote 100% of your listening time to the most sonically destructive release to date from doom revolutionaries, CONAN. Still fettered with an unquenchable blood lust from their third release, Blood Eagle, the Merseyside based doom trio have nothing but battle on their minds, and you can certainly hear it on their fourth offering, Revengeance. Continuing with their unique fantasy theme, Revengeance brings forth six new tracks that have something classic and something new to bring to the table, and once you hear it, you’ll release why your table is broken. Because it’s so damn heavy of course!
As fans of CONAN know well, they blend fierce thrash sections with a blisteringly low, fuzz sound doom fans know and love, and on this release, that concept is taken to a whole new level, tracks like Throne of Thunder incorporating some variations of punk as well as the low frequency assault, further defying the boundaries between straight forward riffage and vast amounts of rumbling guitar sustain. The release also features a mixture of song styles from Horseback Battle Hammer and Monnos, combining drone and mid paced sections that make you feel like you a dredging through a swamp, yet you are stood completely still! A good example of this is the song Thunderhoof, as you can feel like it gives you a flavour of some of their past works incorporated well into the mix. The whole album is just straightforward CONAN through and through, especially with some of the new stylings, it still naturally flows so well upon the first listen. No die-hard fan is going to be disappointed.
The sound of the album is extremely well produced. As bassist and producer Chris Fielding has said, capturing the low frequencies onto a format to which it is still tangible and not just a big pile of fuzzy mud is extremely difficult, so to be able to capture the full range without any compromise is very impressive. Even the bass guitar is now discernible in the mix too which is still very impressive. No instrument goes on buried in the mix, even the vocals are as clear as can be, and they boom on full of lyrics describing fantasy and battle. Destructively heavy, incredibly well produced and highly anticipated, this album is set out to be one of the best albums of 2016, and we are still only in January. What an exciting time for music this is! If you have yet to still listen to CONAN, I would start with this album, and you’ll be a fan faster than you can say Valar Morghulis.
Rating: 10/10
Revengeance is set for release on January 29th via Napalm Records.
