Though hailing from Chicago, Illinois, the doom metal of Rezn displays a touch of East-Asian mysticism about it, on Solace – the band’s self-released fourth full-length. Slow-to-mid-paced, hypnotic riffing goes from nimble and floating to heavy and crushing (and back again) all fluidly and with an altogether gorgeous production that makes this metal album akin to some exotic sweet that still delivers satisfying, crushing heaviness.
The first of six tracks spread out over 40 minutes, ‘Allured by Feverish Visions’ sees the band patiently introduce the elegant, almost noirish tone of the album. Glass-like, echoing guitars ring out, steady ride cymbals and simple drums set the march, elegant flute drifts through the air. Though delicate, it feels all the while like something is coming, something is building. Fitting the album art there’s the sense of an oriental procession, some kind of apparition, gliding through the plains about to gather into physical form and strike.
Finally, the slowly rolling thick smoke-like layers of churning guitars drop onto the field, while the band continues their elegant, nimble approach, stalking, a very slow and effective build. Feverish dreams indeed with a hint of Neurosis about them. It’ll be the second track before vocals join the mix, but otherwise, this album opener gives the listener all the info they’ll need about the sound and vibes to follow.
When the vocals of guitarist Rob McWilliams do come in on ‘Possession’ they are sweet, floating like smoke. Throughout the album the vocals offer a very effective counterbalance to the heavy riffing (when the band choose to employ it); when they choose to carry the listener along on a blissful river of shoegaze atmospherics they sit perfectly too.
Alice In Chains and Deftones are two recurring reference points to the sound of the album. Not the construction of the tracks, which often march in a more-typically doom/ stoner style (rather than building towards a big chorus), but rather the dark sensibilities (melodies) of the former, and the capacity of the latter to make metal sound lush and gorgeous.
From time to time some of the lead guitars (briefly, but effectively deployed on tracks like ‘Possession’ and the album’s big closer ‘Webbed Roots’) hark back to A Perfect Circle — an alternative metal band who really know how to generate a satisfyingly chunky and massive sounding lead guitar tone. Also deserving of mention is the varied elements brought into the album by multi-instrumentalist Spencer Ouellette whose sax playing on the (relatively short) second-to-last track ‘Faded and Fleeting’ is mmmmmm oh so smooth (without being cheesy!). Here the band dip their toes into ELO, Yes, or even Pink Floyd territory, displaying some affection for prog rock it seems.
It would be remiss at this stage not to highlight the sleek basslines of Phil Cangelosi and drummer Patrick Dunn’s unfussy, but neat percussion work. This is not just an album that sounds great, but is played exquisitely from start to finish.
Metal doesn’t always have to be abrasive and sometimes the sweet and the heavy go very well together. On this album, Rezn delivers a musical artifact of elegant, nimble beauty. A delicious, mysterious doom-metal journey that’s candy for the ears.
Buy the album here:
https://rezzzn.bandcamp.com/album/solace
8 / 10
TOM OSMAN