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MIST
Free Me Of The Sun

Soulseller (2018)
Rating: 8.5/10

And so here it is, one of the doom metal albums of the year from Slovenian outfit Mist. Nina Spruk (vocals), and Blaž Tanšek (lead guitar), Ema Babošek (rhythm guitar), Neža Pečan (bass) and Mihaela Žitko (drums), construct effortless Black Sabbath-esque, psych-tinged melodies of blackness that lumber, swirl and roll to the haunting chimes of Nina’s ghostly, beckoning wails.

Just when I thought I was getting sick of generic female-fronted occult rock, along comes this sombre clan to bewitch me with their brand of aching, nodding oaken gloom.

It was their 2015 EP Inan’ which introduced me to their morose flavourings, but it seems to have taken an age for Free Me Of The Sun to have crawled from its hole. This is classic doom from start to finish, so don’t be surprised by the leans towards acts such as Jess And The Ancient Ones and the like as those seductive vocal calls eerily slink between those smoggy walls of heaving guitars.

Candlemass at their most Gothic would have been proud of such orgasmic creations as ‘Disembody Me’ and opener ‘The Ghoul’, while the likes of ‘The Offering’ ascend heavenwards due to those leads. But throughout each track follows a similar classic doom traipse; the stony riffs building and lumbering as hints of mellowness creepy in to create those sprigs of haunting booms.

‘Altar Of You’ and ‘White Torch’ seem simple designs, but the catchiness remains in those decidedly retro plods that nod towards Saint Vitus. But again I have to applaud Nina Spruk’s tone; always deep in the lower register she moans, groans and bellows with ominous aplomb to each despondent decibel of the percussion and thunderous bass.

Mist is very much a brewing rather than raging storm. The album is made up of measured dark grooves that solemnly but poetically drift like cemetery fog. Some detractors may still argue that what Mist is doing is nothing out of the ordinary, and I agree. However, for me, the quality of the songs speak for themselves as they rumble through ‘Ora Pro Nobis’ and ‘Delirium’ as lone male member Blaž Tanšek revels in his solitary confinement of starry-eyed solos. But in general, all members present are wizards of woe, conjuring up smouldering chunks of sorrow-drenched doom metal before the bellowing tones of the title track bring this huge sounding album to a close.

I guess if I was forced to pick a negative then maybe at times the sound feels a tad restrained, but that’s just the ominous but straight-edged nature of this brooding beast as it ritualistically sweeps you away.

Neil Arnold

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