From Phoenix, Arizona comes doom/sludge act SORXE and their self-released debut Surrounded By Shadows. The band is comprised of Shane Ocell (drums), Tanner Crace (guitars/vocals/synths), Christopher Coons (bass), and Roger Williams (bass)...yes, you read that right, two bassists! So, as you can expect, this band is really BIG on the bottom end. Formed in 2012, the bands members all came from groups like Graves at Sea, Via Vengeance, Magnetplan, and Daughter's of Fission, together taking their love for all things heavy & doomy to create a pretty thunderous and crushing album here. Actually, much of Surrounded By Shadows is actually quite noisy and at times mid-fast paced, so don't expect much in the way of endless Saint Vitus or Black Sabbath worship, though tunes like "Join Us", "Creeper Beast", the epic "Smoke Signals", and the crushing opener "Steamroller" at times do dip into some serious brontosaurus stomp. For the most part, it's decent sludge/stoner type material that's not going to win any awards for originality, but I like the overall effort, plus the bits of psychedelia that's thrown in from time to time add a nice effect, especially on the chilling title track. Vocals are your standard gruff delivery and plenty of screams, fairly common with the sludge scene, so no surprises there, with a nice mix of styles on the closing cut "The Mountain Man", one of the albums highlights. In short, a pretty enjoyable platter of doom, sludge, stoner & psych from a band that shows plenty of promise, and it will be fun to watch them continue on from here.
Track Listing
- Steamroller
- Her Majesty
- Join Us
- Smoke Signals
- Make It So
- Creeper Beast
- Made To Suffer
- Surrounded By Shadows
- The Mountain Man
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