POMBAGIRA (Black Axis Abraxas) CD
I'd never imagined that Sleep have left such a big impression in the world of heavy music. But it now seems that every fifth doom newcomer band is influenced from their last two records and POMBAGIRA is no exception. Their debut album 'The Crooked Path' didn't inspire me particularly, because meanwhile I feel a little bored by almost endless cascades of heavy riffs wandering around aimlessly. In contrast to a lot of people I only have had a slight interest in Sleep's 'Dopesmoker/Jerusalem' album. I prefer early Melvins, who did a much better job on 'Lysol'. Well, ok, this shouldn't be the subject of this review so let's turn to the main issue. 'Black Axis Abraxas' has been released thru Withered Hand Records in 2009 and, of course, includes only two colossal, epic tracks. Even if there's no fundamental change in POMBAGIRA's sound, I really enjoy the new album more than its predecessor.
To me, the band sounds more focused as in the past. Although both tracks are packed with influences of later Sleep and Electric Wizard, the band aims to shape an own musical profile. This is particularly successful in the second song 'Idol of Perversity', where they are striving to provide variety within the song. During the running time of twenty-one minutes, the song switches between quieter sections and brutal riffs and POMBAGIRA permits themselves to integrate a surprisingly melodious guitar solo as well as a good dose of psychedelic. That's where a mysterious 1970's mood arises, but for the rest this pitch-black album is dominated by an atmosphere of gloom in combination with an occult context. The title track, clocking in at a running time of almost thirty-one minutes, is closer to Sleep and specifically guitarist/vocalist Pete sounds like Al Cisneros extremely dangerous brother though his brutal voice can only be heard very sporadically.
'Black Star Abraxas' wallows in a bellowing massive guitar sound and trudging along very slowly, but remains to be utterly powerful, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The more often I listen to this song, respectively the whole album, it becomes really apparent that POMBAGIRA has a huge potential to create something monstrous that has its own broken charm. In addition is a tastefully designed booklet including a couple of quite good-looking images and the lyrics. So if you like spending time listening to heavily fuzzed-out riffs as well as the bands mentioned above, you should risk a look at London's POMBAGIRA. That was a good work, ladies and gentlemen!
(KK)