Cough & Windhand. Two heavy, sludgy, stoner, doom metal bands from Richmond, Virginia. Similarly, both were unknown to me, until sometime in 2013 when a friend got me into Cough and another friends band was opening for, Windhand. It was all well timed, too. I found myself getting into this serious doom metal phase during the summertime, which has thankfully not relented either. I say that specifically because autumn usually is the starting point for my yearly black metal fixation, which then goes into full-swing during the winter. However, I'd like to keep this doom metal thing going. Doom may be doom, but it sure as hell makes me feel a lot better inside than black metal does. Fuck my ranting.
Let me start out by saying that the artwork for this release is freakin' phenomenal. I absolutely love this goatheaded, feather fingerered, pagan creature, which has escaped from the forest and will no doubt be invading your cottage soon. Opening the gatefold vinyl we find the vinyl itself, which comes on a few different colors, mine being grey, while the insert inside has another stunning photo of a female figure standing next to a noose in the forest. I don't know what it exactly means, but I sure do admire the artistry behind this.
Cough is up first on the A side with a lengthy, almost nineteen minute, piece titled, 'Athame.' Opening with heavy riffing, a sample kicks in, before more sonic waves of crushing, sludgy, heaviness assault me. Soon enough Parker Chandler's tortured screams enter into this vast, hallucinatory, sloth-y suicide that only Cough could provide. Each riff is so freakishly pulverizing, beefy and just massive, the song reaches something of a calm spot mid-way through, where Chandler's vocals turn to a simple spoke voice, but the ensuing doom kicks in suddenly, and the solo that goes with it is simply breathtaking. The time has come for ritual suicide. Those nineteen minutes seem to zip by in seconds and if it weren't for the fact that more amazing things were on the flip-size, I'd play it again, but since there is, let's flip this, baby!
Windhand concludes this split with songs two and three, namely, 'Amaranth' & 'Shepherd's Crook,' which similarly clock in for about nineteen minutes of music. The bewitching vocals of Dorthia Cottrell lead the charge amongst this fog of slow, glorious riffage, pummeling bass, and apocalyptical war drums. The two songs here hardly differ from the songs found on their debut, but what can I say other than that the band found their own personal style of heavy doom metal, and by the fucking gods, do they ever make it work. Windhand creates some sort of unique atmosphere with their brand of doom, maybe it has something to do with with Dorthia's echoing female voice, I really don't know, but man do I ever love it. This is the sort of plodding doom metal that just makes me feel good; slowly banging my head, air guitar, pumping my fists, yeah, ya know, I tend to drink a lot when I listen to this stuff, too. However, booze aside, I've listened to this split sober before and such heaviness just gets me buzzed naturally. I love this one. That's all I know.
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