Gollum - Lesser Traveled Waters
Reviewed by Velcro Lewis (StonerRock.com)
Friends&Enemies Records
Available Now
In North Carolina, way back in the hills, lurks a hideous yet artful beast the local villagers fearfully call Gollum.
Lesser Traveled Waters is the band's new release and is one of the most original metal records composed in a long time.
Gollum are one of those bands that takes from all kinds of metal (black, death, doom, thrash, industrial, classic prog, you name it), and mix it tastefully into a creepy concoction that is more impressive than any other genre-jumping band. Although this record is executed through many different s t y l es and is mainly instrumental, the overall feel of it is the same.
Lesser Traveled Waters is sinister and aggressive and sometimes downright horrifying. There are a good amount of samples on this album, coming from sources I couldn't recognize (which means you won't be running into any rehashed sound bites from Wickerman or Watership Down or whatever Skinny Puppy and Neurosis have used before). The samples are used in a narrative fashion and are placed cleverly within the music so the lack of vocals is never really an issue. The keyboards and sonic guitar work add an ethereal tone to all of the songs. The rhythm section is tight as it can get and thunderous to match. A definite step for this band would be composing soundtracks to an Argento film since their current material is so damn psychotic.
The funny thing about
Lesser Traveled Waters is that as deviously crafted and inventive as this piece is, Gollum chose to recruit two of the nastiest and dirtiest troglodytes I have ever met, Dixie Dave (Weedeater) and Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), who supply their renown caustic voices to "Tears For a Finite Moon" and "Cross-Pollination," respectively.
This is a great recording and should be listened to by fans of OLD, Mastodon, Yeti, Zombi, and even something like Gorgoroth.
URL: http://www.gollum.cc
