Batillus Furnace

Articulating the appeal of slow, heavy music to the doom metal layman has never been easy to do. Without being able to vouch for technicality or develop a bulletproof argument for why deliberate repetition and walls of rattling distortion are the greatest things since slice bread, I'm always left with half-assed attempts of describing the emotional connection to drop-Z tuning and the art of tastefully placed feedback. But just this once, I'll fall back on a quote from Batillus' drummer, Geoff Summers, to hopefully succeed where in the past I have failed: "It's a catharsis... the reality of the world is pretty grim, people are fucked up, and this is sort of a way to get away from all of that for us." And that's the truth. There's nothing eloquent, spiritual, or -- to be quite frank -- overly intelligent about the space in which Batillus plays. Maybe the rumbling low-end of a stellar half-time groove doesn't pack the power to interrupt the monotony of modern life and its painful hypocrisies for you, but it most certainly does for me. Batillus' Furnance achieves such an effect by subscribing to the doom metal school of mainstays like Electric Wizard, Yob, and most recently, Cough. There are unique steps in the direction of black metal outbursts and experiments in synth-centered atmospherics, but the meat here is in wonderfully crushing riffs, immersed in showers of echoing, reverb-drenched howls. The mood of the record rarely strays from gloomy and slightly discordant, yet when major chord progressions surface (see the end of "What Heart") the result is surprisingly triumphant. Perhaps there is a message in there about how even the world's bleakest moments are worth enduring. Maybe not. Either way, I'm still a sucker for the tried and true structure of the closer, "Mautaam." The flow of grimy bass lines into dark chord progressions and, eventually, even more powerful grooves is one hundred percent about the poignantly cathartic qualities of that sonic wall. It's been done before and it will be done again, but with top-notch execution and appropriately fine-tuned production, it's clear that Batillus gets it (whatever the doom metal "it" may be). Bottom Line: Unlike Batillus' Furnace, this review is short and sweet. If you need your music fix to be heavy and scathing, these dudes welcome you to their sonic therapy session.