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Conan Vis Slomatics

CONAN VIS SLOMATICS – CONAN VS SLOMATICS (6)

Strip rock music down to its barest bones: kill the flashy guitar work and elaborate drum fills, and see what's underneath. The object is to find nothing but rock's essence and the sheer force of it.

A few steps in that direction brings you to, say, Will Haven, a band that can make riffs out of two downtuned notes and smash you round the face with them.

This EP goes much further than that. You couldn't call these guitar lines riffs, just slow notes progressing ever onward through a sticky mire of mud. It can be pretty enjoyable, in a way that increases with the size of speakers it's being emitted from. In theory this approach removes rock's gaudy decorations and gets at the right stuff underneath, but in practice the decorations have just changed. On top of the fundamental vibrations are the smoke and mirrors: the spoken word bit about swords, the vocal impressions of angry Greek gods. The implication is that the music has somehow tapped into some ancient, older power. It's transmitting the wrath of Thor, or Mars, or nature itself. But, if it had really managed to channel the essence of rock, then it wouldn't need to.

Reviewed by Nick Oakden
‘Conan VS Slomatics’ is out now on Head of Crom

You’ll like this if… you think Will Haven is too pop, but Sunn O))) is a step too far.

 

Conan Vis Slomatics