Wednesday, March 6, 2013

... SEAMOUNT 'earthmother' (album review)

Released last november "Earthmother" is already the 4th album of SEAMOUNT, the german band formed in 2007 by guitarist Tim Schmidt and quickly joined by king-sized american vocalist Phil Swanson (Hour of 13, Vestal Claret, Briton Rites...).
For various understable reasons, including the band's early own musical tag as "the new torch of doom" , their cooperation with Church Within rds and Swanson's pedigree, Seamount have always been and are still in people's mind affiliated to the Trad' DOOM scene but uncommonly, from effort to effort, tend to move away from it, in favour of something much more broad, regularly closer to a dark and melodic type of classic rock - while still consistently HEAVY and in perpetual motion...

Where many actual doom bands craft their sound with a retro 70's feel, Seamount's sound reminds more of the 80's but without sounding like copycats of anyone, more in the sense that this is fresh, full of melodic hooks with heartfelt vocals, slightly plaintive, which perfectly fit with the album's thematic dedicated to the greatest love...
The remaining doomy edge finds its roots in old oufits like Candlemass and eventually Count Raven... This said, when listening songs like "Surrender", "The Fool", "Earthmother" or "Everything Divine", this is Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Dio - all in their mid 80's period- that essentially come to mind,  but Seamount have their own feeling and in the end you get a pretty weird - yet enjoyable impression to listen something that sounds familiar but not obvious in any case.

More especially in the 2nd part of the album, Seamount like to break effectively from  their basical sound, just like on "Aphrodite's Child" and it's simple Rock riffage, here I'm hearing some sort of end of 80's pre-grunge stuff ! Also, quieter moments like "Echoes" or "Isolation" do the lion's share to accoustic guitar parts and striking melodies; this is quite different but still cohesive and catchy in the overall with those persistent ethereal and refined textures. 

Last song is "Music" which is a cover of Witchfinder General, the 80's touch is here at its peak and this ends in an amazing way the album, confirming that with Seamount there's nothing pretentious but only authentic and heartfelt heavy Metal (ok, let's not forget the Rock touch...) !!!

Both Tim and Phil have that natural talent and passion for what they do here;
from record to record it looks like both guys are transcended in their creative collusion. Tim is a fantastic compositor and Phil is a singer that has already proved a lot through his various other projects but seems here to have found a perfect osmosis with him, this is really palpable, those guys speak the same language and it's a deep pleasure to see this adventure longly perpetuated and gradually enriched.

I honestly feel that this band is criminally underrated, cause definitely 'Earthmother' can easily become a referent album for doomsters who intend to listen fresh heavy sounds full of melody and passion, and for other people into truly brillant dark and soulful Heavy rockin' METAL - this band can be a very nice discovery... More than highly recommendable !


http://www.doom-dealer.de/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seamount/144409725631012

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