Perish is the Svart Records debut from the two man Norwegian doom group known as Hymn. With just a guitarist & drummer, these guys manage to still make a hell of a racket, their brutal take on doom owing as much to Black Sabbath & Saint Vitus as it does to the hardcore scene. Featuring six mostly lengthy tracks, Perish hits hard and often, with varying degrees of tempos and shades, the band offering a somewhat unique take on the genre with just drums, guitar, and voice. The 12-minute "Rise" plods along with plenty of lumbering riffs and pounding drumming, the vocals a mix of screams, bellows, and hardcore styled shouts. "Serpent" picks up the pace a tad before the monolithic dirge of "Hollow" sets in, a crushing miasma of distorted riffing and distant bellowing. "Spectre" has some nasty grooves and near black metal styled blast beats (!), while the behemoth title track closes things out with plenty of surprises, the band swaying between vintage NWOBHM and funeral doom, the riffs huge and containing plenty of heft with feedback screaming all around.
Overall, some interesting ideas throughout Perish, Hymn really seeming to want to do something different with traditional doom by throwing in some hardcore and black metal to change things up a bit. I'm not completely sold on the vocals, as they don't add anything here, aren't very well executed, and can be grating at times, but I have to give them credit for trying something different. Where this band goes next is anybody's guess, and they are off to an intriguing start.
Track Listing
01 Ritual
02 Rise
03 Serpent
04 Hollow
05 Spectre
06 Perish
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