Review Summary: Finding balance
REZN is a Chicago-based stoner rock/psychedelic doom metal band. Inspired by doom pioneers, Electric Wizard, Phil Cangelosi (bass/vocals) and Rob McWilliams (guitar/vocals) recruited drummer Patrick Dunn and soon later released their debut album Let It Burn on 2017. Just a year later the band added multi instrumentalist Spencer Ouelette, and released the more experimental follow up album Calm Black Water.
After six years of sporadic EP's, a collaboration album with contemporaries Vinnum Sabbathi and two additional full lengths (including their magnum opus Chaotic Divine), we are confronted by the quartet's fifth album Burden. I say “confronted” because it is their most hostile record thus far. Contrary to its sister release Solace, which ventured into their more atmospheric and cinematic side, Burden is more inclined on riffs and possesses a darker tone overall. Both albums were written and recorded simultaneously; Solace was inspired by the landscape of mountains, so the sound was more ethereal or “windy”, if you will, with occasional moments of abrasive heaviness, whereas Burden explores the depths of the Earth, with clear intent on depicting lava sprouting from a rocky pit.
The post-rock elements aren’t entirely dropped for this release, but they are considerably diminished, and production wise the band decidedly divided each package of songs and gave them a very distinct feel; Solace had a “thinner” sound, but despite having both albums recorded by Matt Russell in Hum's very own Matt Talbot production studio, Burden carries sonically a much thicker and polished production work. You could attribute this to being their first release featured on Sargent House label, so it might have been slightly retouched. However, it does sound like it was recorded separately and the songs themselves seem to have been germinated from entirely different writing sessions as they are much more concise and musically very much straight to the point. In consequence, the album's length is five minutes shorter than Solace, which was already much shorter than its predecessor.
“Indigo” picks up right where “Webbed Roots” left off and starts the album quite nicely, with an Alice in Chains-influenced pace and vocal harmonization. The synths take the centerpiece this time around, as with almost the entire record. Spencer Oulette does play the saxophone in “Soft Prey”, which is one of the few moments where the band goes entirely into placid mode. However, these moments of tranquility are contemplated to create tension, rather than to set a relaxing mood as on previous releases. This also implies dropping the dub and reggae influences that were prevalent in past releases.
“Bleak Patterns” stablishes itself as another mood setter, retaining some of the Middle Eastern influences of usual, but quickly turning itself into a riff-laden drop and a very slow, doomy groove. Ultimately, this ends up being one of the best cuts with Rob McWilliams vocals almost bordering on shouting, but never really losing his high pitched and mellow crooning style. So far, the album does feel like controlled chaos, rather than an all out gargantuan disaster. Well, that is until “Chasm” closes the album with a very powerful riff and a solo courtesy of Russian Circles’ Mike Sullivan. Taking note from “Stones from the Sky” by Neurosis, the ending bit of the closer pummels the listener in the head until it dissolves into fuzz and then white noise. A fitting end to an album that touches themes on misery and despair.
With all its positives, my biggest complaint is the album’s length. I like my doom metal to be long and drawn out, and clocking at 35 min this just doesn’t cut it. It could have used at least one more song. By the time “Chasm” ends you are left wanting more, which could be interpreted as a good thing, but overall this feels incomplete in a way. I wonder what would have been if both Solace and Burden were released as a double album, as both records definitely benefit from listening one right after the other. They also could amp up the self-indulgence of Chaotic Divine a little bit more, as this feels too controlled and restrained for their own standards (even though it’s more aggressive than usual). But in all fairness, I can appreciate how even though they are still in the process of refining their songwriting, they still do not lose some of the edge songs like “Relax” or “Harvest the Void” had in their early days. If anything, the band is subtly becoming a bit more technical and finding just the right balance between the doom metal, post-metal, shoegaze and prog, and everything else in between.
