Doom Snake Cult – “Love, Sorrow, Doom” LP (green-yellow) – Nuclear War Productions [Album As Art #45]

I wonder what Doom, the rapper, Dave “The Snake” Sabo and The Cult have to say about the name of this piledriving metal band, from the land of the lady-scorpion, indeed, and … all that stuff.

What I really hear in Doom Snake Cult are several bands of my past, poured through a funnel, then, by way of a good electro-shock treatment, robo-tized and readied for new use. I call Cathedral right away, the kings of the doom pile. Death, too, and not just because of the vocals. There’s a sense of terror — and ride-cymbal reliance — that calls to me as if I’m hearing it for the first time. But I know it isn’t so.

It’s weird, too: At first I totally went the Morgoth/Paradise Now route in trying to explain these guys in my head, but I know it’s a lot more complicated than that. There’s some Christian Death influence in there, hiding like a tick in a thicket of fuzz-hair; a flutter of Cynic too.

Also: Their playing is totally loose and perfect, locked-on like a steering-wheel Club, and as Love Sorrow Doom progresses, that tightness takes on many forms, some that CAVE into your chest like a speeding, apparently chest-sized, camper, and some that hit like your little brother, the one that’s, well, pretty good but not quite where we’d all like him to be at this age.

The singer turns into a non-screamer on Side B, and that’s not something I prefer to have happen. If you screamed on Side 1, I say lay down the WOOD on Side 2, too. I’m getting the feeling he will, but time is growing scant. Side B is now enlisting scraps of electricity samples and some strange jingle-jangles to prove they can do the “found sound” thing too … And they have, so … good.

One of the key metal rules: When essentially transitioning from riff to riff over and over again, make sure you keep things interesting; keep them on the edge of their seats; keep them warm, sonny. And do it fast …

The tinkling jewels I mentioned earlier are back, and there’s a doom procession rolling that just might swerve into your neighborhood this very day as you sit back and drink an espresso. Aimless as this stuff is, it’s not going to bore you — there are several reasons to stick around just to see what these jam-heavy metals might do next.

It’s usually something at least mildly interesting and often something wildly amazing. It’s discouraging when you’re caught in a mediocre wave for a stretch, not knowing whether to skip ahead or stay true to the green/yellow wax and persevere.

I say GO WITH IT. Stay with it and grow with it. It’s definitely been a rewarding listen for me, wrought with several instances of terror that it was. Can you even SEE anything anymore, man? Or is it … is it … just a joke?

This guy’s talking about cookin’ his “thoughts” here and I’m thinking maybe I’ll just do that. I’ve got several thoughts worth cookin’ up into a nice soufflé. I’ll get right on that, when i get the chance. Which will be soon. Soon, it will be. Soon.

Back to Black Snake Moan Seven, I … wait, what’s this band called again? Oh YEAH: Doom Snake Cult: A lot of fun for the death-/BM-/hardcore-/math-metal-Head in all of us, and probably of little value to most of you out there. But hey, isn’t that best, mates?

Just be sure to check out the art. They did a great job with this release, offering up green/yellow marble, a nice black-gold poster and an insert in the more traditional “indie” form (aka a sheet of colored paper). To me, when I see folks going out of their way like this, it gives me hope for the future of music both economically (vis a vis being viable) and educationally (as in I still want to keep obsessing over it, YES!!!!! I DOOO!).

So … yeah … SO? Yeah? It’s time to end this thing, so just let me say, Doom Snake Cult are no worse than Isis, Pelican, Neurosis or any of the other similarly hued acts out there right now. And if they keep pushing, they’ll eventually pierce the Inner Circle and find the High (Metal) Life, where drinking is a sin only if you’re not PARTYIN’ IT UP and cocaine is placed lovingly within every waffle. (Don’t let ‘em DO IT I say!).

Try this out:

Bo-duh-dahhhhhh-day-de-dop-dop-dop-daaaaaayyyyyy-d0-dop, dop-dop, dop-dop-dop, do-dooo-do-do … and so on and so forth …

Did it work for you? If so hit me up, I got some shit ta show ya …