How they’ve made it to album number four with a name like that is quite incomprehensible. Still, there must be a gap in the market for pretentiously proggy doom from bands with laughably bad names, and Camel of Doom have plugged it nicely.
As song titles such as ‘Cycles (The Anguish of Anger)’, ‘Sleeper Must Awaken’ and ‘Extending Life, Expanding Consciousness’ suggest, they’re not afraid to go large when it comes to concept, and with the majority of the tracks extending beyond the 10-minute mark and the thunderous riffs laced with graveyard synth lines, there’s no shortage of epicness about ‘Terrestrial’.
With delicate, picked guitar passages providing quieter, atmospheric moments between the roaring riff-driven eruptions, there’s a strong dynamic to the song structures, sprawling as they are, and the influence of Neurosis on CoD is clear. Then again, the leaden trudge and shouted vocals in the mid-section of ‘Pyrosclatic Flow’ owes more to Godflesh or early PitchShifter than anything else.
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There’s no doubting CoD’s ability to bring the weight, and the proggier tendencies, which include some big, bombastic flourishes and rapid changes in pace and direction, are balanced by a focus and forward drive which keeps the songs from meandering aimlessly. In short, ‘Terrestrial’ is a lot better than the band’s name would suggest.
Camel of Doom Online
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