Tag Archives: atragon
Review: Atragon's I, Necromancer
Atragon's debut EP Volume I is one of the earliest reviews I wrote for UK Scumscene, so it's bizarre to see the band's name crop up again almost five years later for their debut album I, Necromancer. My lasting memory of Volume I is that one of the tracks was pretty good and the other one was a bit dull. Well as it turns out, the good track (Jesus Wept) has been re-recorded for I, Necromancer alongside six new songs. My cynical side instantly thought, "So it's taken Atragon five years to write six songs?" but that's just me being a condescending prick because those five years have clearly seen Atragon improve dramatically.
Now Atragon's Sabbath worship is certainly nothing new among doom bands, but what they do they do bloody well. Atragon's songs usually kick off with an absolutely gargantuan riff that builds and builds over the course of the track. More elements are thrown into the mix including Jan Gardner's bellowing vocals and some beautifully indulgent guitar solos that always punctuate the closing moments of the song in a wonderfully heroic way. Album opener Matriarch certainly follows this pattern and it's repeated on the title track and Wallowing Wizard to great effect. There's something euphoric about the way Atragon build to their crescendos.
Even though the song-writing on I, Necromancer is often quite simplistic, Atragon have seen fit to shorten the songs since Volume 1 and they now average around 6 minutes. This means that even though most songs are carried by one riff, it never gets to outstay its welcome. Plus, everything sounds absolutely massive now thanks to the fantastic production job done by Graeme Young at Chamber Studio. Doom metal lives and dies on its production and Atragon certainly chose well for this record.
The only time the song structure changes on I, Necromancer is for the eerie album closer Guilt Returns. This track chooses to dump almost all of the percussion and instead lets a moody bass line and guitar melody create some really unnerving atmosphere that's accentuated by Gardner's vocals. It's a suitably expansive ending to an album that's spent its entire time sounding enormous.
Atragon's I, Necromancer is out now and available to download direct from the band.
Leave a comment	| tags: atragon, black sabbath, doom, i necromancer, metal, review	| posted in Review
Review: Atragon's Volume 1
Atragon are a 5-piece, Scottish, doom machine. Their 2 track 'Volume 1' EP showcases their love of all things sludge, fuzz and stoner and clocks in at a massive 25 minutes; that's an awful lot of doom for 2 tracks. Atragon's sound is immensely thick with a pounding rhythm, a huge, low-end, bass rumble and some funky leads that will appeal to fans of Slabdragger, Limb and Dopefight.
The EP kicks off with 'The Sound in the Halls' which plods along relatively slowly with its' massive, drawn-out riffs and yelled vocals. Unfortunately the song doesn't do enough to warrant its' 10 minute length; the pace stays the same throughout and the riffs get a bit lost amongst all that distortion and don't really sound like they're doing much. It's a slow and disappointing start.
Fortunately 'Jesus Wept' does a lot more to hold our attention. The pace speeds up dramatically and vocalist Jan Gardner gets to flex his pipes. There's some great sung parts in this song that gives it a cool, desert-rock edge (think Kyuss). At 14 minutes long 'Jesus Wept' also features a great middle eight where the song slows down again to build up to a dramatic crescendo. This brings back the huge, galloping riff from the beginning of the song. It's a brilliant track and shows Atragon at their best. If the band continue to make their metal in this way then they're onto a winning combination of doom metal and desert-rock groove.
The EP's production is adequate at best. This is very simply a vocalist, 2 guitarists, a bassist and a drummer jamming to some sludge. It's purely functional and there's no bells and whistles to distinguish this from a simple live recording. However, the mix is exceptional. Each instrument is instantly recognisable and the distortion doesn't mask the bass which is an all-too-common sin amongst doom metal. The vocals could've used a bit of amplification but otherwise everything is clear and you get to appreciate the instrumentation on show.
Atragon are a funny one; they're clearly aiming for a massive doom metal sound but can get a bit bogged down with repeated riffs and not enough experimentation. When the band do throw a curve-ball into the mix they unearth some truly engaging metal, but until they learn to keep this up they're going to suffer being a band that people walk out on so they can get a drink.
Atragon's 'Volume 1' is available to pre-order now from Witch Hunter Records. The EP drops on 14/12/12
Leave a comment	| tags: atragon, distortion, doom, doom metal, Dopefight, ep, fuzz, limb, metal, review, slabdragger, sludge, sludge metal, volume 1, witch hunter records	| posted in Review