BitterJalapeno
I discovered this most interesting band in the autumn of 2016 when a good friend offered me a spare ticket to see WEEDEATER play at Glasgow's famous/infamous Cathouse Rock Club. As much as I enjoyed the set from WEEDEATER, the then unknown to me CONJURER turned out to be the support band. They completely blew my tits (man tits) off.
At this point, the only music of theirs I could source was their debut EP "I" which i listened to several times that week and began to tell anyone I thought would listen all about my new discovery. Whilst that EP was and still continues to be very enjoyable, it was only setting the tone for what was to come next in the form of 2018s MIRE.
The album opener presents a thick, doomy wall of sound giving the listener a strong ominous feeling and a major sense of foreboding and despair. The pace soon picks up with some nice intricate yet powerful riffing and thundering drums before dropping back into hard, almost groovy death/doom. The majority of the album switches between grinding doomy sludge with more ferocious parts full of blast beats and riffs more akin to thrash and also some lighter sections with strangled anguished screaming.
The musicianship is at a very high standard and the vocal performances from both vocalists are very strong - one with a very powerful death growl and the other slightly higher pitched but they work very well together.
One other thing that struck me about this album is the atmospheric quality and real genuine, heartbreaking despair this new band manage to showcase. The guys are playing/pouring their hearts out with undeniably monstrous results. It does not feel dated in any way shape or form, but very fresh.
I would recommend to anyone who enjoys anything on the heavier side of music, particularly to fans of NEUROSIS. Watch this space as I believe we have much bigger and better things to come from CONJURER in the coming years.
