Pineal: Smiling Cult

Here is an interesting band for you. Pineal is a metal band hailing from London, England. The trio consists of Englishman Daniel Murney (guitars, vocals), Belgian Phil Pieters (bass, vocals, guitar) and Australian Nigel Boettiger (drums). Quite a diverse range of backgrounds in this three piece and the results are pretty good on their debut EP Smiling Cult.

Post metal, sludge and doom all play a hand here as these six tunes are inundated with heavy slow burning riffs and gritty lead vocals. Sonically, the songs do not venture very far apart but there are some interesting riff progressions here, especially in "Acerbic", my favourite cut on the album. As you might expect the music is quite brooding and dark and the lead vocals pretty intense at times, almost having a grungy quality. For me the vocals are okay but nothing really mind blowing. That said, Murney's monochromatic voice does fit the music well enough and he can definitely carry a tune.

When I am in the mood for a sludgier brand of metal, Smiling Cult will do quite nicely. It will be interesting to hear what the band does on a full length release.

Track Listing:
1. Theta
2. AOL
3. Civil Obedience
4. Acerbic
5. Somatic
6. Tides

Added: October 6th 2014
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 1750
Language: english

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