‘Demolarium’ checks a lot of boxes for me. It’s filthy, it’s groovy and it’s ridiculously heavy but Bocc aren’t just relying on one incredibly slow riff after the next to make it that way. There’s enough variety in the band’s approach throughout the album that when they do break into those slower stretches they seem that much more enormous.
It’s all got a fat, almost swollen feel to it. The bass especially feels heavy as hell, and mixed with the down tuned guitars all just made the riffs sound like they’re coming from deep depths. The vocals have that same feeling, I love the deep, full quality of them instead of being totally buried in the mix, which in turn adds yet another thick layer.
I can hear some Coffins in the approach Bocc are taking here. There’s that same spot of intersection between filthy death doom and kind of a raw crusty edge that makes it all sound dirty but without sounding completely loose. Bocc will just sit on a grimy groove for a while and then suddenly shift gears and pick up the pace, which is what I think keeps an album like this from being exhausting.
I also love that ‘Demolarium’ isn’t overly polished. It’s got that recording studio feel to it that really makes you feel like you’re in the same room with the band while they’re playing. For this style, that works; making it sound polished would probably take away half of what makes these songs hit so hard.
