Ghold: Of Ruin

Devastating doom-laden duo get into their flow

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Let’s hope that the steady stream of two-man bands making the scene of late continue, at least while there are folks out there like the UK’s Paul Antony and Aleks Wilson, whose goal appears to be the slow fusion of each into the other, with the result being a primordial ooze of low-end thunder.

Bassist Aleks and drummer Paul – both do vocals – move as a single entity, not wasting a single millimetre of sonic real estate as distorted overtones stir the pot created by their joint rhythmic pulsation.

The duo’s proficiency at aural claustrophobia and retorts to the not-quite-burning questions ‘What if Sunn O))) were more musical?’ or ‘What if Melvins listened to more Electric Wizard?’ does highlight a weakness, however.

There are obvious lags of dead air when Ghold take their boot off the listener’s throat during Saw The Falling or Pursed – but still, seeing as most of Of Ruin is designed to rumble and destroy like lava leeching down the side of a mountain, you could also quite rightly say ‘Mission accomplished!’/o:p