Unearthly Trance - Season of Seance, Science of Silence
Rise Above - RISECD45 - 13/10/03
By Patrick Walsh
Unearthly Trance are a doom band of what might be termed the 'crushing' variety. Season of Seance... is chock full of slow, dirgelike numbers that rarely rise above a crawl, and topped off with pained growls and shrieks that are meant to make you hurt. Business as usual for the ever reliable Rise Above label then, if it weren't for the fact that Season of Seance... is a disappointingly bland in places.
Everything is right and in place for a good extended doom session. The production is a little muddy, but this serves to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that is perhaps more suited to the sparse, slothful material present anyway. However, it's the material itself which lets down this recording. Whilst the band is well capable of creating a lumbering, seething air of malevolence that is of course necessary for such a release to work, whole sections of Season of Seance... seem to go by without the batting of an eyelid. Some will no doubt argue that this is an almost prerequisite quality of drawn-out trance-doom such as this, but I beg to differ; the latest Esoteric release proved that total doom can be entirely captivating whilst utterly suffocating the listener as well. Unearthly Trance have all the right ideas, but a little more focus and purpose will pay dividends for future releases.
6/10
Rise Above records' Official Website
Rise Above - RISECD45 - 13/10/03
By Patrick Walsh
Unearthly Trance are a doom band of what might be termed the 'crushing' variety. Season of Seance... is chock full of slow, dirgelike numbers that rarely rise above a crawl, and topped off with pained growls and shrieks that are meant to make you hurt. Business as usual for the ever reliable Rise Above label then, if it weren't for the fact that Season of Seance... is a disappointingly bland in places.
Everything is right and in place for a good extended doom session. The production is a little muddy, but this serves to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that is perhaps more suited to the sparse, slothful material present anyway. However, it's the material itself which lets down this recording. Whilst the band is well capable of creating a lumbering, seething air of malevolence that is of course necessary for such a release to work, whole sections of Season of Seance... seem to go by without the batting of an eyelid. Some will no doubt argue that this is an almost prerequisite quality of drawn-out trance-doom such as this, but I beg to differ; the latest Esoteric release proved that total doom can be entirely captivating whilst utterly suffocating the listener as well. Unearthly Trance have all the right ideas, but a little more focus and purpose will pay dividends for future releases.
6/10
Rise Above records' Official Website
