Hailing from Lyon, France, doom metal trio Praÿ (Antonie Berthet-Bondet – drums, Maud Gibbons – guitar, and Jason Rols – bass) let you know right away on their self-titled album that they are not screwing around with you.
Rols’ opening bass on the first track, “First Trip,” sets the creepy tone / begins the ritual and soon Gibbons’ guitar is calling to ancient things beyond the stars and Berthet-Bondet’s drums are heralding their arrival. The song floats into psychedelia close to the nine-minute mark and brings back to Earth, although we return wondering if there are things lurking in the shadows (Spoiler: There are.)
“Heretic Eye” also gets off to a dark, quiet start before unleashing fuzzed fury that might knock you out of your chair. “Sulphur” ups the speed a bit and reveals some of the band’s prog-rock influences (mainly through some of the time signatures and Gibbons’ chords early in the track) before the raw power of all three members hits you in the chest like a sledgehammer…and then quiets down to a low rumble before smashing up the place again. The song goes through at least three changes, and each one is somehow better than the last. The final track, “Bottom of the Universe,” sounds like its emerging from a black hole somewhere beyond Alpha Centauri, so the name is appropriate. It hits you with big cymbal crashes and bass thuds and guitar chords that sound like the devil revving the engine of his hot rod. Then, the bottom drops out and we’re floating in a psychedelic Steve Ditko-drawn universe that leads us to a Jack Kirby-drawn post-apocalyptic planet.
The album is only four instrumental songs, but the shortest one is eleven minutes and twelve seconds in length. They don’t cheat the listener or themselves. They explore the shadows as long as they like. Do you dare join them on the journey?
Keep your mind open.
[Take a trip over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
