Worshipers of the mighty riff gather in each and every corner of this planet and France makes no exception with its very own grooving Doom commando SURTR. Jeff Maurer (guitars and vocals), Régis Beck (drums) and Julien Kuhn (bass) deliver the power of six, being a three-piece band – a well-oiled machine so to speak.
“Rise Again”, the fierce opener of SURTR’s second full-length record “Pulvis et Umbra” presents a combination of striking riffs and versatile vocals, ranging from low and clear, all the way to harsh shouts, while the background is visited by a playful organ. “Three Winters of War” has quite folky and traditional blend to it, with floating drums, bass-lines and a kind of sing-along chorus. A slight feedback and about a ton of distortion meet up with Jeff Maurer’s operetta timbre, well THAT is something and really nothing to expect on track three “Sonic Doom”. It turns out to be a real go-getter – will get you going for sure! The finale called “Fred Karno’s Army” is a horrific soundtrack piece, scaring the shit out of you without even knowing who this Fred is or was…
While SURTR’s previous output “World of Doom” had several rough edges, “Pulvis et Umbra” is much more mature and coherent. Maybe a bit too fast for a mere Doom album, but this might be just the right step to obtrude from the masses of nebulized tunes available.
“Pulvis et Umbra” will be published via Altsphere Production March 15th 2013 – on CD and Vinyl.
Punkte: 7 / 10
