Hailing from the Bozeman underground comes a blackened doom collection named Galvanist. With a strong sense of atmosphere and an ear for the heavy, these guys are able to craft serpentine like guitar riffs that slither through your mind and constricts your brain in its tight embrace. This is their debut release, Connection, which sports 3 somewhat lengthy songs that give you a good understanding of what this band is all about.
The first track, Inner Experience, starts with an eerie and atmospheric guitar melody that expands and grows as we dive deeper into the track. With strong drums laying down the foundation, a heavy bass line adding an extra push to the layers of guitars that are forming a melodic wall of sound. After the slower doom passages, the band mixes in the black metal side of things, with tight blast beats and some gnarly riffs that’ll rip apart those who are not ready. The vocals are also rather impressive. Harsh and ghastly, you won’t be picking up on the lyrics they’re spewing forth, but the approach and the feel of the delivery is incredibly memorable and certainly powerful. The band does lean more into the doom sound, adding that layer of progressive atmosphere that builds a sort of mystical headspace.
The production behind this band is incredibly solid. A bright crisp sound of a higher quality, giving us that modern metal feel without all the plastic. On the other hand, due to that production style, they kind of sound the same. Having that same guitar tone and vocal effects as most other blackened doom acts hanging around the underground. But what sets them apart is their songwriting and their musicianship, each member delivering a hammering performance in their respective instruments. That layer of depth and complexity is sorely missing in today’s underground and Galvanist is able to provide that breath of fresh air.
This is more than your standard blackened doom metal affair. Galvanist has presented us with an incredibly strong debut. With a memorable sound and an impressive level of depth that one can only hope for from an act like this. I will be keeping an ear out for future releases and hopefully they’ll be as impressive as this.