Slomatics – Canyons (Review)

Slomatics are a doom metal band from the UK and this is their sixth album.

We know Slomatics from 2016’s superb Future Echo Returns, and more recently from their equally superb split with Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard.

One of the things I like about Slomatics is how heavy and fuzzy they are, while also swamping the listener with warm, welcoming, highly emotive atmospherics and textures. The band do nuance very well, even though it’s almost always buried under a ton of distortion.

Some of the vocals are as heartfelt and as luscious as anything, sailing over the heavy, heavy guitars like angelic beings made of pure light. Or something. You get my meaning; these are gorgeously delivered cleans that somehow seem otherworldly and separate from the dirty great huge guitars, while also being intrinsically linked to them. At other times the singer adopts a more forceful delivery, but without losing any emotional power. At other times still he seems to become the spiritual heir to the Cathedral throne, which is not something you hear every day, (or really at all).

Oh, and the synths. These are as emotive and powerfully wrought as ever. More so in some ways. These add increased atmospheric elements to the slow, doom metal core of the band. Canyon is the type of album that just bleeds colourful emotion all over the place, while also ultimately being about playing slow, heavy, and doomy.

Slomatics continue to be able to write and deliver wonderfully evocative and affecting doom metal. In this regard, they have few peers. Canyons is at least as good as Future Echo Retruns, and might be even better in places.

Very highly recommended.