If there is one thing that can be said about Welsh doomsters Spider Kitten it’s that they are not short on imagination. Their previous album Cougar Club (Rugland) saw the tale of an imaginary gothic sleaze bar of their creation, and in the near future another album will center around a psychopathic Welsh drifter in America called Yakbone Wolftooth. Even this mini album Behold Mountain. Hail Sea. Venerate Sky. Bow Before Tree (Undergroove) has a fascinating story that reaches beyond its tricky moniker, and unfurls a well-researched account of Norse mythology. Considering this is an album that was only meant as a stop gap, other bands really need to pull their fingers out it seems.

Despite its consisting of 3 tracks (the last of which being a near 15 minute long player) this mini album still has an approximate 30 minute duration of slow, grinding sludge and doom. Imaginative as their lyrical influences are, sonically this is fairly straight forward in formula for the most part. ‘Bearded Axe’ finishes off with some traditional, folk like instrumentation which continues into the beginning of the ‘Gore Swan’ but otherwise there is precious little deviation from the brute force of the riff.

Musically it may not be as breathtaking in scope as its story would maybe warrant but the album does generate a worthy atmosphere; as an example the addition of the ravens calling adds to the grim and gritty tone that the Norse mythology suggests; and for what wasn’t originally even meant to be a full-on project is quite a remarkable achievement.

7.0/10

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CHRIS TIPPELL