Slomatics - Canyons

BACK IN THE RACKS. Since 2005, Belfast based space-sludge juggernauts Slomatics have scoured the cosmic plains for doomy inspiration. The universe is a vast place, and with their seventh album Canyons released in 2019, Slomatics haven't run out of inspiration. Every Slomatics record tells a story. Their 2016 release Future Echo Returns was an earthy beast, dense and direct. Bone-rattling heaviness in the form of fuzz-laden doom was the main tool used on that record; in my review of that release I desired more tenderness, more humanity.

Canyons is more expansive, an exploration of the far reaches of the universe. Less muddy, less bludgeoning, Canyons belongs to something spiritual - the over-amplified noise slabs are present, but they're packaged differently, sent through vistas of the melancholic and less abrasive variety.