HABSYLL – split with AUN – VINYL LP (black)

AUN (Montreal, Canada) has a back catalog rich with harmonic drone, sepulchral ambience and of thick detuned guitar vistas. For this split, AUN ventures into new territory. “Druids” plays like 70’s space rock on bad acid, where dissonant tones and hallucinogenic melodies slam head-first into slow, pounding beats. Texture and rhythm collide to create a dark unworldly psychedelia. “Fall Out” continues the space-y vibe, blending rhythm, bass, guitar and acidic noise shards, seemingly taking some cues from the late 60’s New-York underground and mid 70’s Germany.

HABSYLL is something much more than a metal band or a doom band, it’s almost like twentieth century classical played with downtuned guitars and massive drums. So much space, the notes and drum beats miles apart, the drums not so much beats and rhythms (although those do pop up occasionally) as brief explosions or percussive squalls, more for dynamics and texture, or if they are actually engaged in some sort of actual beat, it’s mind bendingly abstract and extended and slow to the point of hovering around 2 or 3 bpm. Think Khanate, Monarch, Moss, Bunkur, Fleshpress? You’re already thinking too fast, too structured, too riffy. This is some excessive extremist radical dooooooooom, the sort of chug and plod and buzz and bombinate that makes the rest of those bands sound like speed metal.