METRIDIUM FIELDS

Doom and sludge metal are both genres that while I love listening to, I find myself rarely doing so, usually because of the commitment I feel I have to put in to fully appreciate it, as it isn't really music for putting on in the background at any point. Giant Squid manages to bridge this gap extremely effectively on their debut album, Metridium Fields, by having a proggier edge to it, along with having an atmosphere that isn't quite as heavy and oppressive as regular doom metal. Furthermore, there are some elements of beauty, along with 2 vocalists that are both excellent, both performing incredibly passionately to further push this album in the direction of greatness.

Most of the songs here are built around 1 or 2 slow, distorted, sludgy riffs that repeat seemingly endlessly, often with some sort of unique characteristic, whether it be a saxophone solo, a shift into more powerful, emotional territory, or even a stylistic change into more exotic instruments and sounds. This provides the album with enough variety while still maintaining a distinct identity. The more important thing to keep in mind about this album, beyond atmosphere and all that, is that the riffs here are awesome each one having a certain repetitive groove, moving up and down in a way that makes ne think of a large, open ocean, waves reaching high before crashing back down. Along with being absolutely superb to headbang to, the riffs tend to be of the perfect tempo to be downright hypnotic, no matter how over the top the rest of the band gets, that consistency of the riffing ends up causing the listener to be mindlessly moving along to the music. These riffs often tend to avoid the trappings of being repeated to the point of boredom, as they tend to be the kind of special riffs that feel as if they could just go on forever and you wouldn't complain, at least that's how it felt to me. The best example of this is the 20 minute title track, which while I'vee seen a lot of people talk lowly about this for being so long and repetitive, but each tmie I listen to this song, each element just puts me in a trance, the incredible, slow moving riff and the sombre tones of the keyboard, with elements such as the saxophone and clarinet occasionally coming in to provide a bit of variety and further emotional impact, but ultimately, the draw of this song to me is just how hypnotic it is, all the way through, in a similar way to the way repetitive krautrock does.

The vocals throughout the album are also a major draw to me, the female ones being soft and delicate, and the slightly manic passion put into the male ones makes the vocalist sound almost identical to System of a Down's Serj Tankian, commendable for being able to have such a similar voice to what I consider to be an incredibly unique vocalist. If I have one issue with this album, it would be that the songs for the most part have an extremely similar structure, each belting out one crushing riff for a while, having a little bridge, and then either bringing out a new riff or continuing to repeat the old one. While this is fine, due to the execution of it being great, it does leave something to be desired, especially when there are songs such as Versus The SIren on this. Versus the Siren is definitely my favourite song on the album, and it's all to do with the structure of it, having 4 minutes od absolute beauty, with subtle, breathy male vocals being strewn throughout a beautiful performance from Aurielle Gregory. From here it escalates, introducing a more traditional metal riff, juxtaposed by one that would feel more at home in a 90s indie rock album, clashing against each other in spectacular fashion, with Aaron Gregory mournfully singing over this intense instrumental backing, before it all dies down, leaving nothing but isolated trumpet, bringing the song to a close.

I find this album overall to be surprisingly good, being able to have some more eclectic aspects to them while maintaining a heavy focus on the heavy, sludgy elements of their sound, The outstanding displays of passion are able to provide a counterbalance to what could have become an overwhelming and monotonous album. While there are times in which combining elements of prog with other genres leads to poor outcomes, as they can become too outrageous and messy for their own good, collapsing in on itself, this album manages to avoid such pitfalls, being an excellent middle ground.

Best tracks: Versus the Siren, Metridium Fields

Weakest tracks: Summit

Verdict: Combining the hard riffs of the slower, heavier genres of metal with the more eccentric qualities of prog leads to a great album in the end, and one that I could see fans of either genre finding some enjoyment out of, as long as they enjoyed repetition.