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Polish Doomsters Load Up A Second Hit

Overdriven tube amps? Check. Liberal use of the wah pedal? Check. References to weed and satan? Sigh… here we go again. It pains me to say it, but the stoner doom genre has long since been oversaturated. It would seem that every man (not to mention his emphysema-ridden dog) is playing some variation on the well-trodden musical path embarked upon by Bongzilla, Electric Wizard, et al back in the 90s. In order to stand out in this scene these days, you either need to be either really fucking weird, or just really fucking good. It will satisfy fans to know thatBelzebonG cement themselves firmly into the latter category on Greenferno, their sophomore album.

How is the sound ?

Here you have a band who seem to grasp that the whole point of playing music is to have fun. If that’s your bag, then this is an absolute blast from start to finish!

The riffs on Greenferno are surprisingly upbeat (dare I say ‘optimistic’?), characterised by undulating swagger rather than just being slow for slow’s sake. Yes, you’ve heard this kind of stuff time and time before, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.

The four tracks on offer have been crafted through jamming them out in the practice room, so there’s an organic progression in each track which makes for great ear candy. The drumming is effortless and disciplined so as not to detract any attention from the massive sludgy riffs and lashings of distant, wailing guitars. Beneath all this lurks an obscenely filthy bass tone, and some of the best moments on the album are the all-too-short jammy passages where this bass takes centre stage.

Production-wise Greenferno is squeaky clean. In fact it’s a little too clean, and it fails to generate that special, primordial atmosphere which comes with any truly great Doom record. Still, production is largely a matter of personal preference, and whether you’re a newcomer to the genre or a seasoned veteran you’ll find this is a very engaging record which will go down an absolute treat.

In summary, this is big, dumb stoner doom with all the psychedelic trimmings, played with real commitment – just don’t expect it to top any “best of” lists coming of the end of the year.

And here is a little video Mr. Fuzz filmed during the DesertFest Belgium :

Why is this album worth listening ?

Powerful, bluesy riffs which straddle sludge and doom
That filthy, muffed-up bass tone – the album is like porn in this respect.
The climax to Goat Smoking Blues is virtually the same riff from Funeralopolis by Electric Wizard. And it absolutely slays!

In what situation you should listen to this album ?

Greenferno is such an accessible, catchy record that I find it difficult to think of that situation where it wouldn’t go down a treat. It also clocks in at just 35 minutes, so it’s easy to digest.

Something particular to note ?

According to their Facebook page, Belzebong’s lineup is as follows: “Cheesy dude”, “Sheepy dude”, “Alky dud”, “Hexy dude” and “Boogey dude”. Yeah… moving on…

Favorite Track

Undertoker. A single, sprawling doom groove featuring layer-upon-layer of swirling guitar solos. This song harks back to early days of stoner doom where one good idea was all you needed. Headbang or die!