Zoroaster

Eschewing the label’s usual M.O. of upper-tier black metal, Battle Kommand has thrown down a feedback-laden, serotonin-draining gauntlet of pure doom, more akin to parent label Southern Lord’s usual output. An apparent endorsement from notorious bargain beer purveyors Pabst Blue Ribbon fuels a lurching, sinister assault that rests somewhere in between the grittiness of Eyehategod and the subsonic drone of early Earth or SunnO))). While the vocals betray a slight blackened mark, the music is notably free of gothic flourishes or the usual pomposity of funeral doom, and settles a bit closer to sludge as a result. Never too painfully slow, although never speeding up to the slightest thrash/crossover gallop, the approach is decidedly mid-tempo, although devoid of the hooks and accessibility of traditional doom or stoner rock. An intriguing and evidently difficult-to-classify effort from a promising young band. Mastodon? Fuck that shit!