No Help For The Mighty Ones

Hailing from the very un-metal Salt Lake City, SubRosa churns out some hypnotic doom metal with a uniquely morbid melodic voice. Oh wait, that’s a violin! That’s right, along with the pentatonic stoner-rock riffs, a violinist is also adding eerie harmonies to this already fantastic slab of Sabbath metal. It actually fits nicely with the lady singer, who sounds lush and wicked, like a lounge witch. Reminiscent of the hypnotic, drifting bliss of White Hills, Dead Meadow, or Bardo Pond, along with the flawless interpretation of the stoner-metal idiom in the vein of Sleep and newer pioneers, e.g. Jex Thoth. Absolutely brilliant. Best tracks: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8. FCC clean.

1. (5:51) Plodding, thick, morose rocking with chilling, bizarre vocal melodies.
2. (8:09) Oozing fuzz-bass intro drones on while violin meanders in some sad key; when the riffs come in, it is MASSIVE. Crushing like a stampede of elephants wading through tar. Interesting time changes and rhythm section interplay.
3. (11:45) Dissonant guitar drone, sinister occult-ish whispers, chanting… then as the violin increases in intensity, DOOM! Thundering, pounding, slow and sticky.
4. (7:07) Massive, epic, monstrous riffs sound like a funeral march for the universe, while the violin wails in its own way.
5. (9:14) Massive, mid-paced riffs ad infinitum with some ritualistic droning interludes.
6. (5:16) A bit more straight-ahead stoner rock. Mid-paced bluesy riff, vocal harmonies, depression.
7. (3:14) What the fuck? Some kind of Irish sea shanty, A CAPELLA… um…
8. (8:23) excellent album closer; all the elements that made this record great are there: depression, doom, stoner-rock, sweeeeet.