I have to admit that Seamount were a new name to me despite this being their third full length album, but the presence of vocalist Phil Swanson (Hour Of 13, Atlantean kodex, Vestal Claret and so many other pies that you begin to wonder whose fingers he's using) was a good sign that the other guys, Tim Schmidt and Andy Kummer (Guitars), Markus Stroehlein (Bass) and Jens Hofmann (Drums), would have half a toe or more in the True Doom waters and at least know their way around a riff.
The opener 'The Ancient' weighs in with a riff part NWOBHM part the kind of doom/rock tempo that Spiritus Mortis spin out and hung with a tolling refrain that reminds me of AC/DCs 'Hells Bells'. The crushing doom of some of Swanson's other involvements is absent here but in its place the classic Heavy Metal 'riff and refrain' melody style sinks teeth into you straight away. lt seems all so effortless to the band; confident gunslingers casually flicking their wrists and slaying with an understated ease. Yeah, they 'know their way around a riff' alright.
The second song, 'Oceans I Call .You' brings in more of a doom sound, though curiously the vocals, always rather versatile, take the almost Type O Negative mournful melody of the guitars and add something that reminds me of weirder singers from the seventies like The Edgar Broughton Band of all things! Slightly eccentric but very effective.
I have to admit that I found there was something occasionally very slightly off-putting about the sound of the recording here and there: Maybe it's a thinness that comes through more in the vocals than in the rest of the band or simply just a different take on things but I soon settle down to it as the songs win me over. Plus, on the whole, the production does its job OK though, allowing the tunes to breathe without burying it in sugar.
This is particularly helpful as Iyric wise we're mostly in fantasy territory, but equally thankfully more of a Doomsword and Mael Mordha feel than Rhapsody Of Fire and Hammerfall. The epic, portentous 'And the Mountains Will know My Name' being a fine example of this; a great brooding barbarian of a song that uncoils its power slowly and quite magnificently.
There is a nice touch of that seventies vibe to songs like 'Standing In The Rain or '40 000 Fathoms', particularly in the way the vocal stylings interact with the guitar sound, but it never strays too far into this to be pastiche or bandwagon. Throughout the album the guitars maintain a harder, sharper sound rather than fuzzing out and there's always a good galloping riff around the corner too, like in 'Stardust', to channel it into a timeless Heavy Metal style.
On 'Getting Through' Swanson's nasal tones are more pronounced to the point of summoning the ghost of Ozzy past whilst the song is somewhere around the sound that US band Orchid are exploring (no higher praise); an almost urgent and catchy repetition in an up-tempo doom style that works so nicely with a steel hard edge to the guitars.
The songwriting here really is excellent: The stomp of the title track is insanely catchy; the call to stick to your road in 'Path to Legend' echoes down from fantasy lyrics and reaches into the real world of metal bands; and 'Only Death Shall Do Us Part' ends the album on a sombre, almost sinister note. All are fine examples of Seamount's quality and feel for their music, a deftness that really impresses. They have a lyrical, often downbeat air but remain steadfastly defiant in the face of the darkness as their Doom spirit calls on them to be.
No, Seamount are not going to set the world alight, or crack the charts wide open but that isn't what they or even we as a potential audience are about. This is about passion and craft and appreciation and sheer talent and they have created one of the finer and most distinctive True Doom/Heavy Metal albums of the year in Sacrifice.
Thank you, guys. Really top draw stuff. I'll be checking out what I missed.
Nice packaging too, Church Within.
http://www.myspace.com/seamountdoom
