This is some pretty interesting stuff right here. Never is the third release from the Greek doom act Universe217, and instead of taking the psychedelic/occult road that so many bands of this nature tend to do nowadays, these guys channel '80s Candlemass and toss in some high-powered Geoff Tate styled vocal histrionics from the capable throat of lead singer Tanya. She's got an immense voice, and just stabs and soars through these dark, heavy, and menacing songs that the band have created.
The rest of the band is comprised of guitarist Manos, bassist Nikos, and drummer Manos. These guys have put together some epic sounds here on Never, with thick, mournful walls of guitar crunch over which Tanya's vocals just skyrocket to the heavens. Tunes like "Stay", "Mark My World", and "Enter" just possess so much power, while "Harm" is just dripping with searing melancholy that it just tugs at your soul. Tanya shows her tender side on the lengthy "She", and Manos conjures up some of the juiciest riffs on the album during the ominous "Electrified".
If I have any complaints about Never, one is that for a doom album, some of the riffs aren't all that compelling. Other than a few tracks, the guitar is used more as an place setter for the vocals, and seeing how great of a singer Tanya is, it's understandable, but doom is usually all about the riff, but not so much here. Second, there's a lot of short songs here that just as they start to really get going they are over. Now, sometimes an overly long doom record with all 10-minute songs can get tedious, but a few of these just seemed to warrant something extra. Otherwise, this is a pretty unique platter of epic doom that should indeed be investigated.
Track Listing
- Mouth
- Enter
- Mark My World
- Stay
- Gravity
- Harm
- She
- Electrified
- Never
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