Feast of Tentacles has a knack for putting out amazing albums. This one right here, a split ten inch between Shaman’s Owl and the mighty Seven Sisters of Sleep is no different. If you like your metal doom laden with slow, chugging riffs, then you’ve come to the right place.
Shaman’s Owl takes center stage first with three tracks. All of these are pretty short; the three minutes of “Four Worlds” begins the album with a churning guitar lead. Atmospheric vocals are heard in the background, those dreary, neatly tucked vocals that just scream “anguish”. The structured riff keeps chugging away as the vocals change from the aforementioned style to almost a barking. The next track begins, “Sacred Bird”, containing more melody. Of course, this is doom metal; there has to be slow, depressive riffs. But the melody on “Sacred Bird” has brighter guitar leads. Shaman’s Owl opts for this nice juxtaposition, the only downside being that it’s two minutes long. The final track, and their personal longest, “The Screaming Ridge”, is much of the same; heavy, unrelenting bass driven by few guitar notes to create such a nice doom sound.
Seven Sisters of Sleep have only one track on this ten inch, and, clocking in at ten minutes, they pull out all the stops to blend melody with a traditional doom sound. There are elements of black metal, thrash, and of course doom all at work. Opening with a crushingly heavy riff, Seven Sisters of Sleep chugs along this path that leads to the grim, harsh vocals. Not only is there the doom-laden chugging, there’s interesting guitar leads that play over them, creating a nice melody. “Bastard Son” breaks open with some tight double bass ushering in one thrashy beat before blast beats pepper the final moments.
This ten inch features two acts at the top of their game. Shaman’s Owl and Seven Sisters of Sleep both blend melody into these tracks, painting a different picture than typical one note chugfests. A release that is surely one of the best splits of the year, Feast of Tentacles has released another gem.
We streamed the album in full here and the album is available for pre-order on blue and gold vinyl here.
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