Windhand - Soma (2013)

As I've said before, Virginia based doomsters, Windhand, didn't come to my attention until late last summer, but it was all well timed since a few weeks later they were playing with a friends band right here in Milwaukee. While enormously enjoying that show, I picked up their vinyl split with Cough, titled, Reflection of the Negative and their brand new album, Soma.

Unlike others, I obviously haven't been following the band since their self-titled 2012 debut, in fact, I'd only listened to it maybe twice before that gig and then procuring this new album, which I frankly think is even better than the debut.

It could be said that Windhand offers up the archetype style of sludgy, ultra bass heavy, crushingly slow, doom metal, but then you'd be overlooking the haunting wails of lead woman, Dortia Cottrell. Sure, there's probably tons of other female fronted doom metal bands, but Windhand is so far the only one (that I've heard) that captures that same level of sonic heaviness that bands like Electric Wizard and Sleep have/had done for years.

With that being said, let me say that Soma offers up that sort rifftastic thunderously heavy doom metal that has that weird hallucinatory effect of almost making me move in slow motion and drugging me up while plodding along with their music.

Opener Orchard sets the albums tone quite well, sure there's no rule books being broken or any vast experimentation, its just straight forward massive stoner doom at its best. While the music is mostly the same on, Woodbine, I found a greater degree of catchiness within Dortia's vocal delivery, and oddly her voice sounds reminiscent of an echoey Layne Staley to me, if that makes any sense. Evergreen breaks the formula by going acoustic and giving Dortia's vocals more of an opportunity to shine as they are somewhat otherwise buried beneath the commanding guitars and bass, while, Cassock and Boleskine are the longest numbers on the record, making up no less than forty five minutes of the whole album. Again, these two hardly change the tempo or the overall feel, but the rumbling grooves hardly let me down in the former, while the latter is a trippy fade to complete oblivion by its conclusion, although honestly probably just a little too long at thirty one minutes.

Admittedly, Soma, is a samey sort of record from the get go to the end, but I guess it all just depends on ones appreciation for this sub-genre. I wouldn't have mind seeing some faster parts or even sections where they completely rock out, but as it stands, it achieves what I trust the band set out to do. And I dig it for what it is, and that's just a solid piece of straight forward heavy ass doom.