S:t Erik - From Under The Tarn (CD)

Review
Crossover

Drogendoom par excellence. St. Erik mögen offenbar Electric Wizard, OM und YOB. Sie vermengen doomiges Blei, Stoner-Riffs, abrupte Dynamiksprünge und hohen Klagegesang zu fünf in der Regel überlangen Spacetrips, von denen der Elfminüter "The Search" in jede Sammlung des Psychedelic Doom gehört.

Author: ta

Review
Doommantia
9/10
14.10.2011

It is time to play catch-up again with another album that was released and disappeared under the radar without hardly one ever hearing it. The band is the obscure S:T Erik who released this album titled 'From Under The Tarn in 2009. They got a few reviews, if that and I haven't read about them since. The band is still together as far as I know but they are one hell of an elusive, mystery band. When this was released, I thought they would be huge in the underground. You see, this album is a psychedelic doom fans wet-dream come to life. They take the influence of Electric Wizard, Ufommamut, Om, Acid King and Sleep and give it some serious treatment. One thing I do know about them is bassist and vocalist Erik Nordström is the bands center point, backbone, and from all reports is the one behind all of the band songs and these tunes are killers. They lack originality maybe, but there is so much cosmic, down-tuned goodness to the grooves on 'From Under The Tarn' that it is hard but not to get a massive head-rush over this act.

A lot of bands have the same influences as these guys but S:T Erik really take only the very best of elements from each band to use as ingredients for their doom pieces. Basically this is stoner, psychedelic doom with lashings of trippy synths, long hypnotic instrumental sections, but when they really get the groove on, it is some of the most infectious stoner doom you will ever hear. The band also have a sense of individuality that is unique to them even though they are mining a fairly limited genre of music. This no more obvious than what you hear on the opening track, 'Goddess.' This is a mesmerizing example of how to be extremely heavy and insanely catchy at the same time. There is an odd vibe too to this track as you could almost mosh to it in a stoned-out slow-mo kind of way, its hard to explain but this tune is like psychedelic, almost violent head-banging kind of doom that has a tempo and feel that is simply, crazy good fun to listen to. One of the trademarks to the songs on this album which also appears in this opening track is soon as you think it is going down the road to generic, jammy stoner-doom, the band takes a detour and takes you somewhere else again. The twists and turns come when you least expect it.

'The Search' takes the band into the land of wide-open psychedelic instrumentalism. This tune ups the strangeness factor a few notches and it becomes a heavy dose of mesmerizing, lovecraftian jammy rock. It also has a female/male duet vocal which gives it yet another unique element and as the track progresses, you could swear this is a completely different band from the one that opened the album. Without a doubt, S:T Erik are not exactly original but they are diverse as this track demonstrates. The key instrument to a lot of this is the synthesizer but it is played with pure class and never sounds cheesy or just simply tacked on as it does in a lot of other bands. It is also the instrument supplying the atmospheric edge that this album strives on. Without it, the album would be lacking. For example, the bass-work is average and can be called overwhelmingly basic at times and the use of two guitar players doesn't add-up to much if listened to on their own but put all these elements together and the end product is amazing.

'Your Highness' has a feeling of attention deficit disorder about it; the song is ever-moving, changing, and reinventing itself and just as well as these songs are quite long. There is only 5 tracks that range from 7 to 14 odd minutes of psychedelic-doomy splendor. 'Your Highness' is more of the same style but yet again, doesn't sound like anything else on the album. This is the track that Om fans will most likely gravitate to, very trippy, ambient, and has a trance-like atmosphere. 'Black Wall' is even more Omish with hypnotic grooves and a vibe that creates total anxiety for the listener; this track really puts you on the edge on your seat. If there is a problem, it would be some of the instrumental sections are a bit too extended for what its worth and that point really hits home in the album closer; the almost 14 minute 'Swan Song.' The frustrating part of this track is its opening few minutes are kind of tedious with too much emphasis on atmospheric sparseness. 'Swan Song' does become a monster track a few minutes in and to its ending though with some mesmerizing musicianship on display.

One word of warning now; this album is mostly slow, I mean really SLOW. Think of Sleep's Dopesmoker and you will get some idea of the tempos that are featured on this release. However, if you are like me and love the monolithic crawl of such albums as the Sleep classic, you will dig the trance-like grooves and mesmerizing atmosphere. This is the kind of album that Electric Wizard should be making these days, it is atmospheric, psychedelic, droning, and above all else HEAVY. One thing that will bug some folks is the synths; one reviewer describe it as "taking a camp of stoned hippies from the 70's, jamming them into an arcade hall consisting of nothing but old Asteroid games and with Black Sabbath as the soundtrack." I don't know about you but that sounds kind of cool to me! 'From Under the Tarn' has its flaws but when it's at its best, you will be hard pressed to find a better psychedelic-doom album.

Review
Forgotten Path

What a weird name... Clearly, I didn’t know what to expect when I first saw this. Someone on the internet hinted that this might be referred to Erik IX of Sweden who was a king briefly during the 12th century. Also the name of the vocalist is also Erik, so it is hard to guess, which Erik has more relevance in this case. Anyway, S:T Erik is the name of this young Swedish band, which plays some sort of Stoner/Doom Metal frequently compared to Electric Wizard, OM, High on Fire, Ufomammut, etc. S:T Erik did one three-song demo, “Upsala”. “From Under the Tarn” is their debut full-length.
The album kicks in with a rather straight, traditional stoner groove manner. The first song, “Goddess”, starts rather plainly and doesn’t hold too much surprise just yet before it reaches the second half. Then there comes a clean and spacey section. Such sections are very prevalent throughout this record. The music starts to float very freely and becomes a lot more atmospheric. The further it progresses, the more it disintegrates into a psychedelic and strange voyage complemented by some interesting keyboard parts and reverberating Post-Rock’ish tremolo strands. Groovy heaviness emerges occasionally, thus increasing intensity of the atmosphere and almost compels you to headbang slowly in accordance. The vocal parts are very vivid and well-performed here. A vocalist sings in what I would call a shouting manner. The voice is kept high all the time and frankly, at times it becomes a bit annoying, though it is rather sparse most of the time. On the second song, “Search”, two voices (male and female) come into harmonious unity, but not quite in unison. This track has some kind of sense of Ethereal immateriality to it.
Generally, the songs are pretty much mashed up together, and at times it is hard to follow which track you are listening to. This record could be compared to a desert; it is vast and monotonous, but not in a bad sense. The monotony actually results in a psychedelic effect here. It is somehow dark, but not oppressive, meandering most of the time, sometimes almost in hypnotizing manner. “From Under the Tarn” is a very atmospheric and trippy album. It’s like the music takes listener’s minds to some strange places and leaves it drifting there in contemplation. I’m sure many would give in to this.

Author: Skol

Review
Legacy Magazine #69
6/10

Seltsamer Bandname, dazu noch der Slogan “Doom-
Metal.Ru” auf dem Backcover – ist der mit 6:58 Minuten
vergleichsweise kurze Opener ‚Goddess’ Margot Honecker
gewidmet und der final gewimmerte ‚Swan Song’ des Fünf-
Trackers dem schon früher verstorbenen Erich? Zum Glück
nicht – das Label ist zwar russisch, die Band indessen aus
der europäischen Doom-Nation Schweden, die mit Count
Raven, Candlemass und Sorcerer alleine schon mehr als
genug für das Genre getan hat. Ein Blick ins Booklet zeigt
unspektakuläre nächtliche Sternenhimmel-Aufnahmen
und sehr minimale Texte. Welcher Doom-Schule gehören
die Debütanten also an, die keinen der drei Songs ihres
„Upsala“-Demos neu bearbeitet haben? Doom Death
läst sich angesichts des wenig melodischen, aber doch
klaren Gesangs ebenso ausschließen wie die epische,
majestätische Variante. ‚The Search’ vertraut nicht einmal
durchgehend Heaviness, sondern fängt beinahe jazzig leicht und sphärisch an. Wären S:T ERIK Deutsche, könnte
man es Krautrock-Doom nennen, so darf man begierig die
Eigenbezeichnung Space Doom aufgreifen. Nach fast vier
Minuten schält sich aus einem Crescendo tatsächlich eine
erste Strophe voll kläglich-leiernden Gesangs. Spannender
als Erik Nordströms Pseudo-Ozzy-Gejammer sind die
spacigen Sound-Effekte, die von der arg primitiven Riffund
Rhythmusstruktur ablenken, welche zwar auf einen
hypnotischen Effekt abzielt, dafür dann aber doch etwas
zu seelenlos ist. Schon klar: Doom lebt zu einem gewissen
Maß von Monotonie und Tristesse – vor allem aber von seiner
mitreißenden Kraft und von geschickten Variationen einer
zunächst simplen Basis. Genau das fehlt „From Under The
Tarn“ beim erfolglosen Versuch, Neurosis-Sound-Wände
nachzubauen. Die ‚Black Wall’, welche sich immer wieder
auf Drums und Bass reduziert, imponiert eher.

Author: BTJ

Review
Metallibraru
4+/5
07.02.2010

"Кто вы?"

– Я Эрик! – крикнул самозназванец, открыв глаза, в очередной раз, невинно ими похлопывая.

"Ладно, это не правда, но откуда вы?"

– Смотрите я из Швеции. Я, не уверен, но, кажется, где-то во мне пять человек, и они играют хорошую музыку и иногда бывают в космосе. Я появился совсем недавно, всего около трех лет назад, но уже успел выпустить этот альбом на российском лейбле.

"У Вас есть приметы?"

– Какая примета может быть у медлительной, грузящей и неподатливой машины, путешествующей в пространствах космоса, в пустоте над нами. Загляните мне в глаза, там все запечатлелось, все звезды и солнца. Вязкие, медленные риффы впечатляюще тяжелых гитар с басом образовывают монументальную стену звука, отдающую бодростью stoner и возрастом traditional doom. Эта стена так высока, что ее можно только перекричать, подняв голову и выплескивая звуки в небо, с тембром немного похожим на классиков Black Sabbath. Мы не привыкли делать из инструментов грязь – наша походка уверенна, громоздка, но чиста по звуку, каждый шаг вы услышите в совершенстве. А самым занятным может оказаться звучание наших синтезаторов, которое более чем нетипично для подобного рода музыки. Когда другие инструменты играют музыку, наш синтезатор работает космическими и компьютерными эффектами, раскрывая сознания слушателю и сознание слушателя.

"Чем вы занимаетесь?"

– У нас здесь пять песен. В них вы не найдете очевидной слабины. Они могучи, неторопливы и в тоже время динамичны. Действие сконцентрировано на центробежных, нерушимых риффах. Мы не рассчитываем на один рифф на всю композицию, это слишком мало. Необходимо помещать мрачноватые атмосферные отрезки баса и акустики, раскрывающие глубины нашего космоса. Звездами мерцают скромные мелодичные вкрапления в монолите звука, звучащие чаще всего отдаленными звуками высоких колебаний вселенных. Солнечный ветер клавишных эффектов сносит вас с определенного пути, выбранного в пустоте черной сферы, чтобы вы потерялись в дымке созвездий. От него разливаются волнообразные частоты, наполняя последние пустые углы сознания, и доводя звучание до идеальной плотности. Две первые песни это нечто разгоняющееся, летящее и недвижимое одновременно, бетон из которого прорастает знание космоса. "Your Highness" настоящий бенефис клавишных, которых в первой песне, к примеру, было не так много. Здесь нам удается быть более стремительными, не меняя размеренного темпа, как и на "Black Wall" лазеры которых, безуспешно пытаются подрубить каменные ноги гитар. Ну а последняя композиция, это медитация растворения, отрубающая ваши провода окончательно. Пусть мы не блистаем как отдаленные звезды вселенной, но вас впечатлит.
"Ясно, пройдемте в участок."

– Но я же Эрик, – снова вскричал самоназванец.

"И, тем не менее, штраф за хранение психотропных препаратов и легких наркотических средств вы оплатите, даже если вы Эрик..."

Author: Maliceth aka Алк.