Italian stoner doom band Haunted allow a look beneath their dark cloak on their latest album, Stare At Nothing.
Haunted started spreading the doom in Sicily in 2015. Stare At Nothing is their third album, and it is a monumental achievement. This odd, unattributed quotation I found lurking in the pre-press materials. “It’s undermining the Force of Mimesis with God… it’s the snake’s bite that frees you from Shame… it’s discovering yourself capable of doing harm… Changing, corrupting purity, depriving questions of answers, sinking into the wound of Being.” Yikes. The band is Cristina Chimirri (vocals), Kim Crowley (guitar), Luca Strano (drums), and Frank Tudisco (bass).
After a short “Intro” of disembodied voices and creepy tones, “Catamorph” leads the way. The music is heavy, extremely fuzzy, determined doom. The tone switches when the vocals arrive, melodic and lilting. But that calm does not last long – the churning doom returns. Slow, steady, and heady, the tone is set in stone. “Garden Of Evil” is smooth and heedless of sentiment. “Back To The Nest,” on the other hand, is deeply dark and seems to be staging a slow-motion attack. Grisly and sorrowful guitars mark out the lines, leading you toward dreadful conclusions. “Malevolent” closes side one with a wicked sense of self.
I was more than convinced by the first few songs that this album was something special. The back half, in anything, is an even more ready declaration of the fundaments of doom metal. “Potsherds” pairs the beautiful voice of Chimirri with slogging electric riffs big enough to beach a whale. “Fall Of The Seven Veils” is a short, quiet piece that sets up the two big final moments – the title track and the epic finale, “Waratah Blossom.” Both are cataclysmic, and after you hear the first you can’t imagine a bigger demonstration of dread, but that is exactly what you get with the last song. I have heard a lot of doom albums this year already, but I think this new record by Haunted is the frontrunner. Highly recommended.
Stare At Nothing hits the streets on April 19th from Ripple Music. Bandcamp is a good place to pick yours up (link below).
Links.
Bandcamp, https://hauntedcoven.bandcamp.com/album/stare-at-nothing-2024
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/hauntedcoven
Ripple Music, https://ripple-music.com/
© Wayne Edwards
Flying Fiddlesticks Music Blog 