Scotland’s secretive Blackened Death / Doom Metal duo Cult of Wounds have independently released this cultish and clandestine debut album entitled ‘From The Mire’. Containing a broad spectrum of explorations ranging from extended tracks of blackened Drone to gritty Death Metal. With this introduction out of the way, it is time to light some incense and prepare your wicked deeds as I discuss this guitar feedback-laden trip into the esoteric shadow lands.
Upon first listen to the opening track ‘Malphas Beckons’ you may be fooled (as I initially was) into believing that you are strapping yourself in for fifty minutes of gothicly lucid Sunn O)))-esque guitar worship. The track serves to illuminate the atmospheric pathway towards the album’s shady halls. A creepy organ initiates the opening of the album which is shortly followed by some very fuzzed-out sustained guitars that follow the pattern of the keys, and the abstract demonic vocals flitter between group whispers and roaring incantations. It is as if you are playing witness to a blood sacrifice whilst an evil sorcerer beckons the lost souls of the dead to arise from within the realm of limbo. With the steady ambience on display here it comes as a real left hook once track two ‘Babylon’s Chains’ erupts with a comparatively hurried tremolo-picked lead riff whilst the vocals grow in intensity and the keys, whilst still present, are more subtle in use. The track transforms in its later moments with some dissonant guitar work that amounts to a vague sense of melodicism.
A few tracks later on we are greeted to ‘Through Da’ath’ which is another thematic elegy for the black arts. The song follows another simple melodic guitar pattern with more cavernous and disorientating vocals. It’s one of the more interesting tracks that follows the musical formula of this album’s sound and some additional catchy and bass-heavy riffing emerges throughout its various segments. The mood of the composition eventually drifts into something that could exist vaguely amongst the realm of Stoner Doom. I particularly enjoy the drone that concludes the track and it feels reminiscent of the massive and buried guitar tones found all over Electric Wizard’s ‘Come My Fanatics’ album. The penultimate track ‘Valley Of Hinnom’ draws upon more of the voluptuous Sunn O))) worship. While I appreciate the deep and abyssal sound of this song, after the initial couple of minutes, my interest in the track starts to wear quite thin due to the piece’s slightly directionless feel.
For those who are seeking a gloomy album of Death/ Doom Metal to serve as the fanfare for your next deep forest seance or dungeon-based conjuring event, then ‘From The Mire’ may just be the soundtrack that you seek. It is a listenable and occasionally surprising affair that warrants at least an introductory listen for fans of this style. I have to say that I do find it somewhat patience-testing in a few places over the course of the album’s runtime, but it is still an album that I’ve been having a moderate amount of fun with.
