Halls of Amenti

This EP is an experiment from Cephalic Carnage called Halls Of Amenti, where they attempt a 19-minute sludge/doom song, as opposed to their death/grind albums. A radical style change can be difficult to perform adequately, but this band decided to give it a try, and it works…kind of.

The one-song EP begins with a slow guitar riff, which sounds pretty good. They sound a tiny bit more muffled; perhaps to pull off the sludge sound. The immediate problem I’ve found is the drums. As soon as they start, it’s automatically evident that they’re too fast. There is some small double-kick work at the commencement of the drumming, and it doesn’t work. He would’ve benefited greatly from just keeping it simple and not worrying about doing that sort of stuff.

The vocals start soon after, and they’re your standard Cephalic Carnage low growl that are used on their albums. It doesn’t really not work, but I guess I’m just used to hearing them over music with speed and technicality. They sound alright, though, and are a good addition.

At about 6:28, the music fades, and then comes back with some clean singing. I’m guessing this is to develop some atmosphere, but whatever they created is immediately stripped away because of the screaming and the over-zealous drumming. The clean singing continue over this, but it no longer sounds like it was meant to. About two minutes later, the music almost disappears and lets the clean singing continue, which is good, but only lasts a very short time. Then it’s on to some guitar noises and some atmospheric sounds. That lasts a short time, and then the music starts again, but unfortunately it’s, once again, too fast for sludge or doom metal.

There’s perhaps no need to go through any more of the song, as this is about halfway, and there has been a great deal of tempo changes, and musical evolution that doesn’t work for this kind of music. It continues on through the rest of the track, and this is a real pity.

The point of doom metal is to create a certain atmosphere for the listener, and slow, repetitive music is allowable, but Cephalic Carnage is a death/grind band, so they are probably not used to playing the same riff for more than 20 seconds. They are clearly out of their comfort zone, and it shows through their inability to stay on one riff or play slow enough.

Having said all that, it’s not a bad piece of music experimentation. Cephalic Carnage at least attempted it, and it doesn’t sound horrible. It’s worth at least one listen, and perhaps more if you’re intrigued enough. However, this is really only for those who love doom, or are a Cephalic Carnage completist.