Reviews Coming Soon

Album Review: TBA

Monday, July 28, 2008

Album Review: Saviours – Into Abaddon

Saviours from Oakland, California come with a ‘U’ and a surprising mixture of influences ranging from NWOBHM to stoner rock. Think Iron Maiden jamming with High On Fire with Lemmy wailing from within an echo chamber.

‘Into Abaddon’ is their second long-player and despite its concise playing time this isn’t one you should pass on. They’ve managed to recreate an album that utterly envelopes you in the music by hiring a producer, Joe Barresi, who’s worked with such bands as Kyuss, Tool and Bad Religion. Scott Baptiste, the drummer and principal songwriter, cannot speak highly enough of his abilities. “Joe blew our minds every day. He’s a tone master and really gets into the bands he works with to the point where he almost served as a new member in the studio. Our last few records captured what we sounded like live at the times in which they were made, but Joe was able to conceptualize that sound and make it even more powerful”. With echoing vocals, thickly distorted driving bass, deeply throbbing guitars which interweave in collapsing shifts and bad-ass, pounding drum rhythms, Saviours drag you helplessly into their dark, menacing cave and beat upon you soundly until you finally admit defeat.

At just over three minutes the curt title track nods politely in the direction of Iron Maiden’s thundering ‘Run To The Hills’ rhythm. To the sound of horses galloping into battle, guitarist/vocalist Austin Barber lets loose a vitriolic series of war cries. In combination with the warping ferocity of the booming and cascading guitars it’s a heady mix. It’s followed by ‘Narcotic Sea’ which mixes an abrasive, monotone and almost shouted, vocal with a series of psychedelic rising and falling guitar patterns. Suddenly we’re aboard a tiny boat on a vast ocean of sound and our heads are firmly held over the side, our stomachs churning as the wailing feedback rushes at us before slowly ebbing into silence. The remainder of the album is a concoction of this raw driving power (such as on ‘Raging Embers’ or ‘Cavern Of Mind’) and this insanely brilliant conceptual revelry (‘Mystichasm’ or ‘Firewake Angel’). Aptly named, this band can truly save you.