And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Blank canvas. Blank page. No words. Then came … Poetry. Psalms. Hymns. The power and the glory. OMG – Oh My Godthrymm! This is the one, my good brothers – one for the ages, one for the rampages, the spillages, the courageous. 

Guitar chimes at midnight, and beyond, pedal to the metal and all pyres blazing – light up the sky! Sonorous melancholy. Pounding, bludgeoning. 

Riffs to chop wood to, riffs to nail shingles to the roof, riffs to build a house, riffs right down to the foundations. Riffs that question you – do you doubt yourself? 

With the huge, weighty, determined first track, ‘As Titans’, we’re in menacing, haunting, epic territory. Like Kubrick’s 2001, mere “mortals”, timidly, fearfully approach the monolith, planets mysteriously aligned and suddenly we are transported elsewhere, somewhere beyond, elevated and rejuvenated by the sheer gnarly groove and gristly grind. Bandleader Hamish Glencross says of this sophomore effort: “The light shines brighter, and the darker depths are vast trenches …” It’s all about contrast, and evolution. Plus – exultant, emotional crescendos.”

Yet, we’re still in the real world, huddled in close with our loved ones, vulnerable, looking down at the gutter, and up to the stars – still in the real world, where writers take that blank page, musicians take a riff, take an idea and run with it, nobly work it with their own hands, incubate and inculcate and create what must be art, because if this ain’t art, I don’t know what is. 

Simplicity, they say, is the crowning reward of art. A chugging, lurching riff that strips you right down to the bone. Magnificent, coruscating, inspiring. Enveloping. Keening, spiralling solos.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to the teeth of tales of the COVID lockdown, how tough it was, how music helped us through it. I’m sick of reading about it – but music did help us through, of course. And few bands rattled my lockdown cage quite like Godthrymm – salved my deepest wounds. I’m done with it now – but I honestly can’t mention Distortions (Profound Lore Records) without reflecting on Godthrymm’s Reflections. There, I’ve said it – but if I ever mention another album in the context of the lockdown, you have my permission to crucify me. 

After Reflections, the vibrant, victorious, and towering Distortions turns it up a notch. No second-album curse, no faltering, no bowing down to others’ expectations, no worries. 

‘Devils’, massive riffage, is off the scale, a masterpiece. ‘Echoes’ alone is worth the price of a ticket – get on board the Godthrymm wagon before it’s too late before some guy you thought you used to know tells you what you’re missing. 

‘Follow Me’, featuring Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride), is too brief at 12.46 – a keeper, a true friend. ‘Unseen Unheard’ has its very own special vibe, opening the book for you, turning the pages, and asking you to read the story of the rest of your lifetime. 

It’s doom, a black morass, but there is often counterpoint, and a sludginess to this record, a stoner-ism? Pigeonholes, though, are for the pigeons – let’s fly on the wings of Godthrymm’s eagles, angels, condors, and Valkyries. Fly my good friends, fly …

Buy the album here:

https://godthrymmdoom.bandcamp.com/album/distortions

9 / 10

CALLUM REID