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11 PARANOIAS
Superunnatural

Ritual Productions (2013)
Rating: 4/10

What an almighty noise this is. 11 Paranoias are a loathsome beast who hail from the British Isles, and are another of those grime-clogged sludge / doom / stoner acts whose only aim is to coat the town in silt.

Superunnatural is a debut chamber of fog which boasts four lengthy, lethal doses (with an additional four rehearsal tracks on the CD version), songs that are the musical equivalent of a migraine induced by snorting too much mulch. After a few spins of this ear-clogging record I felt as if I’d been consumed by a peat bog, such is its earthy weight.

I really do find this sort of stuff an acquired taste, and find it truly amazing how the metal genre has churned out so many similar leviathans. The doom metal genre – and its sub-genres – have really evolved over the years. Lending an ear to this slab of dirt, however, may make you wonder if there’s any progression at all, such is the drone effect of this platter.

11 Paranoias consists of vocalist / bassist Adam Richardson (Ramesses), drummer Mark Greening (ex-Ramesses) and guitarist Mike Vest (Bong). Between them, the trio quite literally churn out a dire slog of noise straight from the bottom of the murkiest of lakes. Diehard fans of this sort of sludge will no doubt feel Superunnatural is better experienced with the aid of mind-numbing drugs, but for me the full-length is dense and rotten enough.

I see no real appeal in such a gargantuan pile of compost; as soon as ‘Deceiver Of The Deep’ rolls into the lounge like a moss-covered mammoth, I’m running for the door. 11 Paranoias cast a pea-soup haze across the landscape. Within that veil of smog, one can just about distinguish the maddening vocals – vocals which are often drowned out by the fuzzed riffs, woundingly slow drums and nihilistic bass.

Is this really doom metal? Nope. It’s just simply the slowest of all slugs, as far as music goes. The album can be quite torturous once we reach the paralysing gloom of ‘Ossuaries’ and the equally cavernous ‘Reaper’s Ruin’, a track which has all the joys of removing a ten-ton shipwreck from the bottom of the sea.

The fact that so many bands are plying their unearthly trade by indulging in a similar drone really baffles me. Whether it’s Moss, Coffinworm, Cough et al, however, it’s quite simply just too slow and boring to have any effect other than sleep paralysis. I see no real future for a whole host of bands who want to exist within the realms of the murk. There’s nothing adventurous or even sinister about such weight. In fact, if one continues to inhale such mind-bending noise, then I think it’s about time a health warning be slapped on such turgid releases.

Neil Arnold

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