My experience in the doomier side of death metal is skewed. While many of the olde drank deep of the greats in the canon of Incantation, Asphyx, or diSEMBOWELMENT, my first experiences in the low and slow were Saturnus, Swallow the Sun, and Evoken’s more contemporary fare.1 One classic album that did speak to me in hushed whispers through its grimy and thickly menacing approach to death metal was Winter’s sole 1990 LP Into Darkness. A similar harbinger of the sound like many of the above, it relied more on death metal than doom, utilizing the latter only to bring out the sickness with each movement. Finland’s Altar of Betelgeuze utilizes this classic template of riff-first fed headfirst into the doom machine, but they do so by adding a slight green fuzz to their proceedings.
Echoes is the quartet’s third full-length since the act’s conception in 2010. While featuring the armaments and cavernous bellows of Incantation or Winter, it also is armed with a stoner doom fuzz and vocal influence from Candlemass. However, you can be sure that the “married iguana” haze does not subtract from Altar of Betelgeuze’s intention of crushing your skull in. Each of Echoes’ tracks features thick and punishing riffs with charismatic death metal vocal performances, with a fuzzy sprawl reminiscent of acts like Weedeater and Om. Ultimately, Echoes is by no means a genre-defining or challenging album, but it finds Altar of Betelgeuze tapping into earthmoving heaviness.
There are no frills on Echoes – no fancy-ass intros, ambient interludes, or atmospheric pretense. Altar of Betelgeuze wastes no time hitting you with a skull-crushing riff in opener “On the Verge,” a pummeling affair of mammoth echoing drums, thick riffs with a gritty undertone, and hellish bellows commanding the movements. This punishment continues in “Embrace the Flames,” a more upbeat precipice of death metal. “Conclusion” offers a more crawling and sprawling stoner approach, dwelling in a subtle plucking style that capitalizes on the riff – a torch that “A Reflection” carries on with more fuzzy riffs and drawling leads. The title track is the album climax, a patient nine-minute odyssey that never lets up on its density, its stoner influence weaponized to saturate every negative space. Altar of Betelgeuze’s no-frills approach, combined with its mammoth production unafraid of grit or grime, makes for Echoes to be a force to be reckoned with.
Two tracks that call the album into question are not due to lack of quality, but simply their placement, namely alongside the highlight “Echoes.” Case in point, “Salvation” is by no means a poor track, but its jarring stoner-doom focus and Candlemass-esque barked vocals with a stark lack of death metal make its relatively toothless sound forgettable. Similarly, and more problematic, “Fading Light” must attempt to take up the mantle after “Echoes,” but its replication of the previously focused riffs pales in comparison due its sudden lack of exploratory songwriting, making its inclusion questionable. At least “Salvation” is a unique inclusion in stoner fuzz and barked vocals, while “Fading Light” feels almost entirely unnecessary. On a nitpicking level, “Conclusion” may feel underwhelming after “On the Verge,” while “A Reflection” is its weaker and more forgettable version. Although commanding, the vocals of Matias Nastolin are just a tad too loud in the mix, somewhat drowning out the riffs periodically.
Even if my perception of death/doom is skewed, I still had a great time with Echoes. Altar of Betelgeuze doesn’t pretend to be the best thing since Incantation. The trio offers a slow-motion beatdown that will get your head bobbing in a doom-centric style that doesn’t feel too slow, but rather finds the sweet spot of tempos that capitalizes upon the groove. Featuring a nice set of tracks that neatly weaponize stoner and traditional doom in ways that saturate rather than dominate, the focus is refreshingly straightforward and tastefully pummeling. Playing it close to the vest until the epic “Echoes,” Altar of Betelgeuze offers not the next chapter of doom, but a reason why people love it.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Released
Websites: altarofbetelgeuze.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/AoBofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 22nd, 2024
