CONAN: Evidence Of Immortality (DOOM): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Rather fertile at the beginning, Conan will have taken this time four years to release a new opus. Still, the successor of "Existential Void Gardian" was strongly awaited by the faithful and this all the more since this last one had surprised - or disappointed - more than one with its more squat format and its compositions. Was the trio going to continue the demolition of its own identity or go back to its fundamentals?

It would be tempting to answer that Jon Davis opted for the second way. The length of the tracks that fill "Evidence Of Immortality", oscillating between 8 and 14 minutes with the exception of two of them, seems to confirm it. In their hearth still crackles this prehistoric Doom recognizable between thousand and which made the success of the British, which rests as much on the voice of a sick duck as on these volcanic riffs which make the walls shake, solidly supported by bass lines of a power to panic the seismographs. In this, 'A Cleaved Head No Longer Plots' and 'Equilibrium Of Mankind' are models of the genre. In short, pure Conan, as we like it, rough and patient. From the timid evolutionary attempts displayed by "Existential Void Guardian", there are still some stigmata like on the quasi Thrash 'Levitation Hoax' and even more the wild 'Ritual Of Anonimity', furiously hardcore in the soul.

And then comes at the end of this path, the monumental (in all points of view) 'Grief Sequence' which we have the impression that it is the work of another band. Monumental, this piece is already by its cyclopean dimension of almost a quarter of an hour. But it is it especially by its nature not only instrumental but also powerfully funereal. Liturgical keyboards and a drummer who has the time to make a nap between two snare hits feed this haunting procession soaked in a pallid atmosphere inspired by Scandinavian funeral doom. We didn't think Conan would be able to poach on this icy and mortuary land, at first sight very far from his roots. This lament alone justifies the listening of "Evidence Of Immortality" of which it displays the most experimental side, showing that the band has not completely given up its desires of evolution.

Some may be disappointed by the finally classic content of this fifth album, but besides the fact that it sees its authors venturing on a surprising funerary and waxy ground, it is allowed to see in it one of the best albums of Conan, more than ever master of this mammoth Doom which belongs only to him. - Official website

CONAN

EVIDENCE OF IMMORTALITY

NAPALM RECORDS

DOOM