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TIGGUO COBAUC "Fountains of Anguish"
TIGGUO COBAUC "Fountains of Anguish"
By Dr. Abner Mality
In the waning days of 2024 comes quite a surprise...one of the best doom albums of the year from an unknown band who clearly know what they are doing. This record is full of crushing riffs, dark melodies and an otherworldly atmosphere. In every way this is an absorbing listen.
There are seven tracks here, but none of those ponderous 10 to 20 minute epics that can be a chore to endure. The songs are of moderate length but packed to the brim with great ideas. The longest cut "Eternal Quietus" is a rollercoaster that starts with calm monkish chants, explodes into violent blackened death metal and then settles into powerful doom riffs accentuated by haunting keyboard sounds. That's all in seven minutes. This kind of concise songwriting is all but vanished in today's doom scene.
There are times when TIGGUO COBAUC can be ferocious, as on the grinding black doom of "Craving For Slay". The vocals range from roaring belches to goblin like rasps to some quite peaceful and melodic clean tones which resemble Gregorian chants. All placed at just the right point in the track."Inner Disaster" has what might be the best doom riff of the year, perfectly embellished with atmospheric keys. The keys are also well positioned to do the most good for the song. "Volt Face" is another crusher, just a pure onslaught of metal, which bleeds into the somewhat death metalish "Engaged Putridity" which is quite morbid but no stranger to melody.
When the album ends with the drifting heavy psych drone of "Deliverance", a song unlike any of the others here, I had the overwhelming impression that "Fountains of Anguish" was something with a lot of thought behind it. Definitely track this one down!
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