WATCHTOWER ‘Radiant Moon’ EP Review.

Words Joel Parnell.

As the first blob of sludge drenched riffery makes it’s appearance in opening track ‘Radiant Moon’, my heart shudders with anticipation as my sensory perception adjusts to the unmistakable sound of DOOM.

Melbourne Doom Metallers WATCHTOWER read like a page straight out of The Unholy Book Of Iommi Worship. Huge stoner rhythms carry Nico Guijts pained soaked, growling vocals like a 30ft tall, grim as fuck juggernaut from hell. Clocking in at a casual 9:04 minutes, ‘Radiant Moon’ is a slow burning descent into the abyss that’s perfect for a night in with that filthy, psychotic whore Mary Jane.

‘Living Heads’ momentarily kicks up the pace with it’s urgent, surging opening riff sequence, then returns to blatant, fuzzed-out riff rapture. The two tracks found on the EP essentially function as one really long song, with the former blending seamlessly into the latter. A haunting feedback outro reprises the beginning of ‘Radiant Moon’ and sees this journey through the nether regions of the soul draw to a close.

WATCHTOWER are a bit like Sleep, if they popped some Dexis and stayed up real late. As mentioned before, this band does stick pretty religiously to the tried and true doom formula established by bands like Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Saint Vitus and their ilk. Having said that, I don’t think anyone really gives a shit about that anyway. The genre has never weighed heavily on originality and fans often revere new bands for their ability to effectively summon The Ghost of Riffmas Past. In other words, if you like the bands I mentioned before, you’ll probably like this one too.

Watchtower ‘Radiant Moon’ digital release is out now through Magnetic Eye Records.

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