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Bloody Panda > Summon > Reviews
Bloody Panda - Summon

Pheromone By Another Name. - 70%

Perplexed_Sjel, November 20th, 2009

Although largely unnoticed in the Metal Archives Kingdom, Bloody Panda’s sophomore, entitled ‘Summon’, has not gone unnoticed by the outside world. As far as I am aware, the debut, entitled ‘Pheromone’, was widely greeted by success, though I myself had trouble relating to it. The same could be said about this sophomore, which has made little in the way of progression from the dark themes explored on the nightmarish debut. The songs present here, of which there are seven, though this does include filler tracks which serve little purpose in the grand scheme of things, almost twice as many as there were on the troublesome debut, are a representation of what it is like when dreams become a reality and nightmares begin to dominate our world. This is a very surreal sophomore, leading on from the material created on the debut. They both follow very similar patterns, though I do feel ‘Summon’ is a lot more accessible since it features more variation and the songs progress better than they previously did.

Although a fan of repetition in some genres, it is hard to become accustomed to repetitious music in the doom field. The guitars need to be a source of inspiration if the repetition is going to evade the realms of boredom and ‘Pheromone’ wasn’t up to the challenge of being swift enough to evade the feelings of tedium. Songs like ‘Pusher’ show that perhaps now Bloody Panda are ready to stand up to the challenge of monotony since the new songs contain slightly more variation and much more positive steps towards stopping the rot that was beginning to consume the debut. Although ‘Pheromone’ did feature some fairly huge songs in the form of ‘Fever’, a true epic of the doom/sludge hybrid, the feeling of positivity was never overwhelming in me. It was merely a warm rush of feelings which were quickly subsiding as the monotony began to seep back into the soundscapes. The best aspects of the debut all feature prominently once again. The vocals, for instance, are the shining light of the otherwise bleak portrayal of themes. These female vocals, which are normally clean, remind me of emotionally hollow choirs singing in abandoned churches, a place where God has moved on from the decaying walls of spirituality, which are crumbling around us and beneath our feet.

The spiritual feeling of ‘Summon’ comes in many forms, including the organ sounding , even the title for this piece, which reminds me of the music portrayal which, to me, represents the omission of God from our world and the replacement of the Devil, a love torn fellow who comes in the form of the harsher passages, such as the down tuned guitars and heavy bass. Vocalist O’Hara is the angel amidst the demons as she tries in vain to drag this record from out of it’s mediocre state into a creative, dynamic light. Although there are areas, such as those unusual vocals, that bring about some amount of joy, she is left fighting a losing battle as the doom/sludge hybrid fails to live up to expectations. There has been some amount of progression, but not enough to stop Bloody Panda from seeming like just another face in the angst ridden crowd. Experimentation was always a factor of Bloody Panda’s game, but not enough to stop the monotonous vibe from settling in far too well, like a friend of the family you just cannot wait to get rid of. ‘Miserere’ is a good example of when the experimentation factor is as perfected as Bloody Panda can get it. The tempo changes of the percussion are fantastic, reminding me of the temperamental sound of Disembowelment as the fast changes puncture the darkness that shrouds the atmospherics in a diseased sound, rotting from the inside like cancer.

However, the good work on songs like this is undone by songs like ‘Saccades II’, which float along aimlessly. There are also some concerning male vocals present here which lack impact, though they are sparse and do tend to filter into the demonic sounding background, a place where all spirituality has left. These male vocals come in the form of indecipherable screams, adding a texture to the music similar to what the guitars lay down and in juxtaposition to the pure female vocals which ease the sense of rigidity in the soundscapes since the projection is very simplistic in terms of instrumental play, though the complexities once again form in the emotional aspects of the soundscapes, which are very moody and difficult to digest properly given how Although I would consider this to be on par, if not slightly better than the debut, ‘Summon’ still lacks an edge. It is in this edge that they would move on from simply being a band with potential who’re not using it properly to a band who know what they want and how to obtain it. Good, but by no means the lethal killer it should be given areas like the organ grinding, the unique splashing of female vocals and the intense dark atmospheres. ‘Miserere’ is awesome, but the rest lacks passion.