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POTION
Oath To Flame EP

Self-released (2021)
Rating: 6.5/10

This Sydney, Australia-based doom metal act made their presence known to me via their 2018 single ‘Women Of The Wand’ and I’d hoped by now that a full-length release may have surfaced, but for now I’ll have to make do with this two-track, 15-minute affair.

The band is a trio fronted by Lee Jowono who has an infectious drool to his style, while behind him bassist Stella Leung grinds away to create massive walls of distorted sludge that complement the guitars of Jowono and the drums of Chris Downey.

What we get here is some nasty, slow, grinding dirty doom metal that is little on frills but effective all the same. Opener ‘Torchbearer’ runs for eight-minutes, but rarely drags and remains melancholic and syrupy. At times the track borders on deathlier climes, but with heaps of melody in its chords as the vocals snipe and scrape away at the grime.

‘Hallucination Rites’ begins slowly, evoking images of festering, fly-swarmed waterholes before heaving itself from its squalid state and continuing its lumber. The only real variation emerges with starker passages, but the grinding theme is the same. Lee Jowono scowls from his pit of despair, his vocals reaching into the murk as he asks of “what horrors lie within this trip” as a searing sludge chord rips from the mire before returning back to the dreary drudgery of dirt.

It’s interesting that the band describes themselves as “psychedelic heavy metal”, and while I wouldn’t entirely agree there are certainly heavy psychedelic sounds as a running theme. So in a sense, it would also be unfair to call such a sound strictly “doom” or “sludge”, as the trio incorporates numerous heavyweight styles while remaining persistent in its trudge.

I think more deviation may emerge with a full-length release because at times this two-track EP can be a little testing. As it stands Potion are ticking along nicely, but may have to up the stakes when it comes to their next move. While lumbering, grinding psychedelic doom is popular, there are a lot of bands doing this sort of thing.

Neil Arnold

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