Thursday 19 September 2013

Procession - To Reap Heavens Apart - Album Review

Procession - To Reap Heavens Apart

Procession is a Doom Metal Band from Chile now based in Sweden.

The members are:

Felipe Plaza - guitars, vocals
Jonas Pedersen - guitars
Claudio Botarro - bass
Uno Bruniusson - drums

To Reap Heavens Apart, album track listing :

1. Damnatio Memorae - 02:20
2. Conjurer - 06:23
3. Death & Judgement - 08:18
4. To Reap Heavens Apart - 09:22
5. The Death Minstrel - 06:36
6. Far from Light - 10:59

Chile's Procession have been ploughing the doom furrow since 2006 and have a few releases under their (bullet) belt now. Currently based in Sweden, theirs is the type of doom that is old school to the max; true doom, even. This is their second full length.

Damnation Memorae” opens the album up in instrumental style and the nice analogue-ish sound pulls you into this defiantly traditional release. Never afraid to accelerate when they have to, the band shows fine riffing and dynamics to pull the listener in. It all serves as an appertif for “Conjurer” which gives us monolithic riffs, melody and fine clean melodic vocals.

Death & Judgement” brings the album into an epic realm. Low vocals, dynamics, despair and melancholy- it's all here and in spades. The guitars weave together, the bass is a melodic and ever present force in the mix while the drums are inventive (not an easy thing to achieve in doom and when playing at low tempos). After the five minute mark there are riffs that are straight out of Sabotage/SBS- dramatic and atmospheric. Great solo over a mournful sequence too.

To Reap Heavens Apart” clocks in at over nine minutes. The track fades in (nice touch) bringing doom and despair along with its harmony guitar work. The vocals are well delivered, creating an almost tangible sense of drama. The tempo swings (like Sabbath, not ZZ Top) and the bass work is truly fine. Again, the epic nature of the material is right there- it permeates the riffs, vocals, the production; everything. Things even get a bit Maiden in places- if you want grandeur then why not?! The track is perfectly paced and serves very well as a statement of intent and identity for the record as a whole; just as a title track should.

The Death Minstrel” opens with rain and an acoustic and then slowly, by way of reverbed percussion and atmosphere , builds towards a crashing piece of very slow doom. The vocals are spoken word- a trick that can work very with doom as the atmospherics inherent in the music can carry the songs without histrionics. 
 
Far From Light” lumbers into view out of a sort of percussive segue and closes the record emphatically. You get over ten minutes of slow burning doom with this one. Weight and melody meet (as they do across the entire record) by way of harmony and down tempo rhythms. The music quietens for a powerful vocal performance- a clever juxtaposition. An extended solo continues the grand feel of the material prior to a lumbering series of verses and confident performances all around. A simple acoustic passage finishes proceedings appropriately.

If you fancy some traditional doom, you cannot wrong with this record. For fans of Sabbath, Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass.

Words by : Richard Maw

To Reap Heavens Apart is now available on High Roller Records

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