Often enough have the many different realms of doom metal received a psychedelic gloss in recent times with there being several acts coming out of the woodwork to show us what can still be done with the concept, but it's not often enough that we see a creation that actually manages to capitalize on such potential. An album that manages to take into account much of what the sound is able to bring forward while always keeping the listener engaged and guessing as to what precisely comes next without ever letting its different elements overshadow one another is by all accounts a rare sight. It's even rarer to see it done well in a debut. Yet, Ainu stands tall achieving just that.
While it's something that has been done by plenty of acts out there, the blending of doom and post-metal still continues to be a flavor that not many are able to bring to the table in such a way that feels meaningful in such a way that leaves a real impact on the listener. It's a constant push and pull struggle between the atmospheric notions, the heaviness, and the psychedelic notions that make the concoction quite tricky, but it's with acts like Ainu that we see such potential bottled, understood, and performed to usher in a tremendous creation. This is a debut that takes the very concept of success in this field and absolutely runs with it. Where Ainu seeks to make you unsettled with its Spanish-spoken openers, it's through the soothe rhythms that give way to immensity like the waves off shore forming into grand tsunamis that this album shines over and over again as hypnotism, mythology, and the very mystery of the seas themselves coming through to make for a dynamic experience that is always shifting. There is still plenty of room for improvement with the prospect of an improved Ainu something to really salivate over, but for all that Ainu has brought to the table in just its first creation, how can one feel as though the act doesn't deliver? Ethereal to its core and utterly euphoric in each of its five tracks, this record is a pure and simple victory.
Where many have sought to bring this kind of flavor to the world of doom in all of its iterations, Ainu should be able to stand tall as a real breath of fresh air. There's loads to unpack within the depths of this eponymous record many times over as we're met with plenty of twists and turns to lose ourselves around as the arsenal of Ainu is laid before us, and who are any of us to deny such magnificence?
"Ainu" releases on June 28th via Subsound Records!
LISTEN to an advanced track from "Ainu" on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Ainu on Facebook here.
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