Review Summary: Taking advantage of a second shot at success...
Since stoner doom bands share quite a lot of success lately, it's only normal they tend to be in constant bloom. Most ride the wave the early '90s brought by bands such as Sleep, Electric Wizard, Cathedral, Acid King or Sons of Otis. Hell, even some of the original acts have reunited and released new music lately. Still, a fair number of them cling to the sound of the genre's fathers: Black Sabbath, Trouble, Pentagram or Saint Vitus to name a few. In essence, the ideas are cut from the same cloth since every wave has been strongly influenced by the previous one, only the amount of fuzz and tempo differ.
Our guys here, Egypt are an interesting cross between the old school Black Sabbath or Pentagram, whose riffs and structures are the starting points and the crushing power of their grandsons Wo Fat & Weedeater. They have started in the mid '00s, but disbanded after a year. Their demo EP was picked up by Meteor City (an essential label for the fans of the genre) and released in 2009. Shortly after, the guys decided to reform and finally released their debut LP,
Become the Sun, in 2013. Even though it was a great album, it felt too long for its own good. There wasn't enough variety to keep the listener interested for an hour or so. However, for their latest venture,
Endless Flight, they kept things easier to digest, offering 5 tracks at a total of 35 minutes.
Some blues licks start the journey in an old fashioned way (they could've been featured on any of the newer ZZ Top records), before we get to jump head first into the sea of fuzz that is the title track. The thick guitar layer guides us throughout, switching from groovy segments to cool leads reminiscing Wo Fat's output. The vocals are pushed into the background, landing somewhere between Dixie's growls and Matt Pike's hellish bark. Few clean lines pop here and there making for a nice change. With its stop start riffs and tasty solos, 'Tres Madres' would put a smile on Bobby Liebling's face, whereas the trudging 'Black Words' and 'Shaman's March' are two scorching cuts that bring us back to the sound of current doom metal bands. These slow burners are a crushing finale to an intense LP and are definitely Egypt's hardest hitting material yet.
While entirely derivative, the band have proved they can walk through the decades, collecting several sonic pieces from their main influences and rearrange them into an enjoyable, cohesive unit.
Endless Flight doesn't break any new ground, yet it feels accomplished mainly because it's a fun listen in a time when many bands get stuck on a certain sound and aimlessly push forward. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but Egypt have all the time in the world to work on that.
