Commoner – A Commoner’s Quest
(Commoner)
DL
Out Now
The second album from Norwich and London based heavy crust doom merchants combines elements of stoner doom metal, the classic sound of Black Sabbath and the ferocity of punk. Nathan Brown recommends the relentless horror they unleash.
Featuring members of Coitus and Left For Dead, I knew Commoner would deliver the goods and bagged myself a copy of their debut album last year, which has received plenty of plays. I was pleased to hear that the band had been back in the studio this year, the result being this, their second offering. The Norwich and London quartet describe themselves as “Downtrodden heavy crust doom”. While there are elements of crust punk (it’s in their blood) they also have a huge chunk of heavy bands in their DNA whose lineage inevitably leads us back to the first few Black Sabbath albums. I can hear some similarities with downtuned stoner doom metal in the relentless repetitive riffs but these dirty punks are heavier and gnarlier than the likes of Electric Wizard.
The scene is set with Eldervoid, nearly 3 minutes of roaring, haunting wooshing effects and sinister synthesizer.
Bacteria kicks off with a wah-wah driven guitar line before the whole heavy band comes crashing in. The vocals are growling and subterranean sounding. Half way into this 8 minute groove the pace picks right up with thrash metal undertones, reminiscent of punk-metal thrashers Sacrilege, before slowing down again. The song nears it’s conclusion with a refrain of “Bacteria” which develops into “WE ARE bacteria”. A comment on the creative yet destructive nature of humankind perhaps? Or just a scientific fact that pretty much all life is made up of bacteria. Like bacteria floating away on the air, the song drifts off with reverb laden acoustic to fade. I’m minded of some of Coitus’s crushing tunes in places, which is no surprise. Bacteria? This band are so sludgey at times that they are primordial slime.
More upbeat than Bacteria but no less heavy, and with the gruff vocals more prominent, Queens of Slaughter is a solid tank of a tune that propels like a relentless blitzkrieg. It has the heaviness and motoring drive of the best of d-beat bands. The song tells of a murderous fantasy biker gang – a phalanx of witches on their iron horses. The clue was there right at the start with the clanking beast of an engine turning over. For me, the song conjures up a trip through a fantasy world of chaos and disorder where Mad Max meets Michael Moorcock and the pages of 2000AD. Dropping a reference to “Cursed Earth” into the song will doubtless appeal to fans of Judge Dredd. I keep returning to Queens of Slaughter as my favourite song on the album.
Listen to Queens of Slaughter
The reverb laden acoustic guitar instrumental Tamesis Naiad is ushered in by sounds of water and nature and provides some respite from the heaviness. It’s a trick which Sabbath among others used to provide depth and texture to an album that also has the power to make the following song sound heavier by contrast.
Cthulhunaut starts with the sound of Lovecraft’s beast rising from the deep and is a beast in its own right, clocking in at over 10 minutes. Creating a name out of Cthulhu and Sabbath’s Supernaut tells you an awful lot about where Commoner are coming from. The song is based around a long riff with pounding drums and bass which at times emulates the rhythmic approach that Killing Joke made their stock in trade. Another tortured vocal attack maintains the aesthetic. There is a cheeky solo with plenty of wah backed by a heavy palm muted stripped back version of the main riff before the song switches to another riff and a longer soaring solo that will appeal to fans of Metallica’s Ride The Lightning period.
Hyrndu Draugabornin is, like Tamesis Naiad, a more subdued, mellow acoustic guitar piece, the giggling at the start and end giving it an Elvish sound. Again, the contrast is a great device to break up proceedings but worthy of note in its own right.
The title song, A Commoner’s Quest, finishes off the album. Again crushing crunching guitars and bass switch with soaring solos based around a long melodic head-nodder of a riff that seemingly spirals endlessly.
While only 7 songs, A Commoner’s Quest clocks in at 41 minutes. It takes you on a journey from crushing heaviness through mellow acoustic snatches to head nodding, anthemic guitar riffs. I’ve found far too many many sludge or stoner bands plain boring because they are just slow and that’s about all they have to offer. Commoner keep things interesting with lots to add to the mix. They make every second matter. The heaviness derived from their combination of modern stoner influences with classic heavy bands like Sabbath and a gnarly punk sneer gives them an edge as sharp as an axe.
Cover art by guitarist and tattooist Mik sets this off perfectly.
Available from Bandcamp
Find new of Commoner’s gigs and other antics on Facebook
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Words by Nathan Brown. You can read more from Nathan on his Louder Than War archive over here.
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