Antoni Gaudí, the messianic Catalonian artist known as God’s Architect, claimed that “man does not create, he discovers.” And that would be a generous explanation for why Montreal trio Dopethrone have recorded a familiar-sounding, twisted, reverberating, heavier-than-the-wrought-iron-gates-of-Hell and dissonant psychedelic doom album replete with samples from cult horror movies.
Because not mentioning the colossal shadow of Electric Wizard, which falls across this album, is kind of like not mentioning the elephant in the room; except this large-eared pachyderm is made out of brown acid, child sacrifice, black denim and nuclear fallout.
Sludgekicker looks for the acidic evil notes that lurk between the standard notes that more pusillanimous musicians cower behind. Chameleon Witch is bluesier with the weight of Spine Of God, but it’s on Scum Fuck Blues that a note of histrionic angst creeps into the vocal delivery that you’d never get from the Wiz.
As highly enjoyable as Hochelaga is, it’s a good job you can’t copyright the sound of pure doom evil as otherwise a letter from Messers Sue, Grabbit and Runne might be in the post to Dopethrone right now./o:p
