Ever since I ventured forth into the world of doom metal, there was one thing that immediately stood out to me above all else: heaviness. It felt like something that was critical to an album that was destined to become stupendous and the sort of thing that many people like me clamored for. Granted, since those humble beginnings I’ve learned that so much more goes into it, and it’s in that journey that I’ve seen plenty of acts try many different things. But it was in the first half of last year that something started to take form, and I wasn’t prepared for the end result of sheer grandeur.
It’s awesome to have heaviness mixed in there, but you also have to have some melody in there somewhere! Even if it’s in the form of a simple three notes that don’t have any substance at the beginning of a track, it can be dangerously potent to draw you into something. Then there’s the build up, something that bands like Inter Arma have come to master over time where the devotion and time commitment to sit through long tracks pays off immensely with loads of satisfaction to be had. And to round it all out, the time is a massive thing in doom that’s become next to essential for the genre in many scenarios and a great number of acts have created tracks that stretch well over ten, fifteen, and twenty minutes in more humble cases, but then we get the more auspicious acts that dare to tackle anything from over thirty minutes to over an hour in some more extreme cases.
These three elements (some form of seductive melody, a satisfying build up with solid pay-off, and daring length) have often come together to produce some of the best doom that we’ve gotten in recent years, and it’s a trend that I truly hope doesn’t die out so long as the medium is alive. And it’s today that I want you to put your eyes on Germany. On a band that is just starting out. On a band with ambition for their craft. On a band with soul, experience, and unwavering passion. I want you to avert your eyes towards Eremit today and journey with them through “Carrier of Weight” and watch the ocean-bound saga of the Hermit.
Concept albums are far from an idea that’s unique to doom, but there’s something about pairing together a grandiose story with some truly crushing and sludgy doom that I can never get over. And it’s with Eremit that we are able to behold these three tracks that clock over an hour long total take the form of what’s easily the heaviest of the genre that I’ve ever heard. It’s with “Carrier of Weight” that Eremit has crafted a debut that’s crushing, foreboding, terrifying in the most awe-inspiring way, monolithic in such a way that can only be compared to the likes of Bell Witch, and storytelling that’s nigh on impeccable that’s filled with strife, longing, hopelessness, challenge in the face of death, the search for that which you’ve never seen, and fear of being claimed by the aether that is all-consuming. Extremely few tales are able to be told with such dramatic effect and pristine musicianship to boot, and “Carrier of Weight” has all of that in just the first track.
There’s a unique thrill in listening to something like this as it’s something that you can truly lose yourself in quite easily if you allow the ocean to take you and enable Eremit to act as your guide through the depths and storms. Every single factor of “Carrier of Weight” is something to behold in all of its monolithic glory as this band cruises forward without fear. We’re treated to so much in just three tracks from a fearful wandering for treasure coupled with the inheritance of time bearing down in the first, the very world rebelling against your will with failure looming at every turn as incredibly thick riffage carries us through the vortexes that is the middle chapter, and a final, defiant, and truly haunting final track that could very well serve as its own album but Eremit are just crazy enough to not do that and it couldn’t have been pulled off any better! I could not tell you how many literal days I’ve sunk into “Carrier of Weight” in order to absorb all of that fantastic excellence in all that is has to offer, and I still cannot get over how truly magnificent this record is from top to bottom.
It’s from the gripping tale to the immaculate musicianship to the thick layer of sludge that coats every moment of this album that I’ve come to fall in love with. There’s not a single aspect of “Carrier of Weight” that I wouldn’t consider a stupendous element to add to this record whose fate is undoubtedly to become a true cult masterpiece that likes of which we don’t get often by any means. It all culminates to become this unique, monstrous experience that I can’t help but implore anyone to check out who is more than willing to commit time to this story, become enraptured by the very weight of the ocean, and allow the immensely emotional performance to simply take you as Eremit shows us with their debut that they aren’t fucking around for a single second.
Rating – 4.9/5
link below.
https://eremitdoom.bandcamp.com/album/carrier-of-weight-atmospheric-sludge-doom-metal
The Metal Wanderlust 