Wednesday, August 29, 2012

"The Acolytes Feel Sleepy" by Finnish stoned prophets GNIYRG GNAARG

Here's a nice trio coming from Finland (as their name may suggest !?) that consists in Tommy on Bass + vocals, Leo on Guitar + backing vocals  and Ines on Drums (she has spanish origins which the band claims in a kind of double national identity).
This 3 songs EP "the Acolytes Feel Sleepy" is their second effort, after the debut "From Mother Sun" which was promising but failed in vocal terms, something that has been perfectly corrected here... Indeed, where the vocals were previously sung in finnish and clumsy at times, they are now in english and so harmonious with their plodding Stoner/Doom that inversely they now constitute a very distinctive force.
Certainly the thematic of their lyrics helps to get that haunting and dramatical tone, always melodic but generous in emotional climates, even epic at times : the first track, "Holothurian", is heavily influenced by ancient Japanese haikus about Holothurians (a.k.a. sea slugs), and is about an ancient chaos monk who tries to warn his nonchalant acolytes about imminent doom. "A Wizard?" is a short instrumental that works as an intro to the third track "Nay, a Prophet!", that tells the story about a prophet who has a vision of the depressing future of the world, but manages to see the bright side of it all in the end....
Musically G.G. is not your typical Stoner band, not too unpredictable though, the main influences of  Black Sabbath and Sleep (through great rumbling and hypnotic bass lines) can still be rather easily detected, but that insidious, infectious and mystical mood almost constantly floating in their twisted and enchanting vibes, gives some deep consistency which can assuredly please inveterate DOOM fans too...
Finally some added hints of grunge (last 2 minutes of "Nay..."), progressive and psychedelic rock stemming from each member's personal music tastes and melted together must be noticed and definitely bring a pretty unique touch to this stunning trio... One more subtle thing : I feel that the cover nicely retranscribes most of the musical caracters of the band,  looks pretty simple but is rich, massive and contrasted.
 About 20 minutes is really too short, I hope it won't take too long to get some more tremendous sounds from them, well just enough to listen this ep several dozen times more and anchor indelibly that strange name in my brain !!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gniyrg-Gnaarg/109123359123599

http://gniyrggnaarg.bandcamp.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment