By shifting erratically between Mastodonian sludge, black/death metal, doom and shimmering post-rock on their 2013 demos, it was essential that Un defined their sound going forward.
Diagnosed with blood cancer last year, guitarist/vocalist Monte McCleery coped with his illness and treatment by doing just that for the first full-length. Surprisingly, they’ve settled firmly upon funeral doom, a style the Seattle four-piece previously showed only a minor affinity towards. However, fully channelling the deep emotion epitomised by the subgenre’s time-tested tenets actually makes complete sense given how Monte has recently faced his own mortality.
By slowing down to emphasise the space that exists between huge sustained notes, and also by working poignant harmonised leads that bend with sorrow into post-metal’s build and collapse, Un have emerged a poised, more extreme entity.
There’s still work to be done to tighten structures and further individualise their guitar progressions, but the depth of The Tomb… suggests that, in time, Un will stand beside bands such as Shape Of Despair and Evoken.
