Zoroaster

The world of doom metal seems to be turning a new page. From progressive musicianship and melodic vocal tendencies to the incorporation of once-shunned instruments, such as keyboards and even odd variations in tempo and time signatures, the genre is still lovingly muddy and thick but that primordial ooze is churning a touch faster than before. Kicking up their fair share of muck, Atlanta, GA's Zoroaster are quite the force with latest effort Voice Of Saturn. Rollicking in the basic beastliness of Sleep and the Obsessed, yet motivated to utilize a number of the aforementioned nuances that would never have been entertained years ago, the album's ungainly demonic thrust is captivating with its patient sharing of epic tracks that are dynamic enough to engage but still rooted in their formative elements. From the plodding rumble of 13-minute opus "Spirit Molecule" through to shortest tune "White Dwarf," a five-minute-and-24-second rant featuring Mastodon's Brent Hinds, Voice Of Saturn is every bit the wall-of-noise slow burner one would expect from a Georgian metal band today.