Don’t get too excited about the opening moments of this album that possess the resonant fuzz of Electric Wizard with a little more rattle. A deeper dive into Darkness Died Today exposes a record that doesn’t quite live up to the expectations of a band born from the ashes of trailblazing UK stoners Acrimony.
Led by new recruit Matt ‘Pipes’ Williams, these Welsh riffers have a good stab at stoner doom but it lacks the gravitas synonymous with the rolling perils of hard and heavy bong worship. On the flipside, recording the album live on to analogue is a brave move, giving it an earthy quality that makes a nice change from over-produced studio recordings.
On Guided By Mountains, the gravelly doom doesn’t do much and Dragging The Bones is slack on the solo. But if there are saving graces, they’re found in a momentary return to Acrimony’s esoteric leanings via the unravelling psych of Sleeping With The Dogs and a sonic knees-up on Obelisk, tracing the steps of Down with aplomb.
