There’s prolific, there’s ubiquitous, then there’s Aaron Turner. With Isis no more than a beloved memory and the latest effort from Old Man Gloom done with its mischief-making, the man’s thirst for invention and colossal soundscapes appears unslakeable and latest project Sumac bounds into being with debut album The Deal (Profound Lore).
From the outset, earth-shaking bass notes and riffs allude to the swelling hostility of former glories. There’s a marvellous tone to the switching, slamming riff and bass of ‘Thorn In The Lion’s Paw’, as deep as the Marianas trench yet resonant, crashing through fearful, hissing amps that groan under the sheer weight. Wonderfully dictated by rolling, pulverising stickwork, Turner’s diseased bark careers the bulldozing track toward a lush, atmospheric ambience; the piercing piano keys and howling lead chord chilling the soul. It’s a typically diverse, adventurous, yet sonically booming exercise deserving of beefy cans rather than those tinny, treble-heavy ‘in-ear’ aberrations. The scything, hammer riff of ‘Hollow King’, when colliding with the frenetic rhythm episodes, is positively euphoric and claustrophobic; even an albeit accompanied drum solo and brutal jam session can’t bore, instead numbing the senses with their size and stunning display of instrumentation, the closing imitation of a pulse the beating heart of the grandest titan.
Despite the undulating power, however, there’s a self-indulgence which leads to meandering moments: the pounding, scorching Stoner twist of ‘Blight’s End Angel’ for example containing extraneous and tedious passages. Despite a rolling pummel and that ripping scour, the thirteen-minute title track houses aimless lulls broken by a crushing intensity, yet even this is occasionally stodgy and flinches only with switches of pace and enlivening lead breaks at both the halfway point and the coda. Only the drifting yet reverberating power and beauty of the YOB-like, aptly-named closer ‘The Radiance of Being’ reflects that early variance you’d expect more of.
This is still a fine album, full of Turner’s trademark phenomenal power. He is doubtless capable of more spectacular results than this, however, he would feel that someone of my limited cognitive powers couldn’t fully understand…
7.0/10
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PAUL QUINN
