Sounds Like Hell is an irregular feature on new and old noise rock, doom and sludge.
On An Unending Path – Atriarch’s third record and their first for the venerable Relapse Records, the Portland quartet sound as though they’re channeling the apocalypse. That’s obviously well-chartered territory for any artist with doom tendencies, but Atriarch deliver their end times prophecy with an otherworldly weight, like the psychic burden of Neurosis filtered through the gloomy and gothic textures of Peter Murphy oeuvre to craft a record that’s ruthlessly nihilistic.
These are sounds not of this realm. Flurries of noise, black metal and sludge rise and fall, underpinned by a constant sense of dread. This is not for the faint of heart: it’s hard not to fall into a paranoid tailspin listening to the hypnotic incantations of vocalist Lenny Smith over the thorny bed of down-tuned atonal guitars and syncopated rhythms. For fans of Lovecraft and psychosis.
