By Lee Newman
When someone mentions a doom band with psychedelic and drone influences, the first thing that comes to mind is usually stoner metal, with its big feel-good riffs and languid tempo. However, to associate Taurus’ lysergic doom with any of the typical pothead favorites would be misleading. This two-piece, consisting of Dark Castle’s Stevie Floyd and Ashley Spungin of Purple Rhinestone Eagle and Negative Queen, doesn’t play the kind of melodic, happy-place doom that Sleep fans would eat up. Instead, their music is the auditory equivalent of dropping some seriously bad acid, full of goblin screeching, disorienting noise and tribal drums.
No/Thing opens with a looped vocal sample, which eventually gives way to thundering drums and fuzzed-out, mechanical synth noise. It lurches forward relentlessly, like a deranged machine. Ultimately, a big guitar riff cuts through the clamor, but it doesn’t feel like a dénouement or a resolution. Instead, the riff is so dissonant it just increases the tension of the track. That’s what this album is about – building up the horror, and just when you think you’ll get some relief – nope, more horror. Despite its avant-garde tendencies, No/Thing still possesses enough potent, retro psychedelia to call to mind images of thick incense smoke and witches from Hammer horror films.
Delay-washed chanting and vocal samples, like the mournful meditation that persists throughout “Increased Aloneness”, are staples of this album. However, the extreme repetition of the samples begins to grate quickly in certain places. On “Lives Long For Own”, the words “fleshy prison” are repeated about thirty times in a row, creating a jarring arrhythmic loop that is more annoying than transcendent.
Floyd’s simplistic guitar work is what really brings purpose to all the synth noise and sample loops. The riffs, though unleashed sparingly, feel like getting hit by a wrecking ball. Halfway through “Increased Aloneness”, when discordant, chuggy guitars break through all the hippie chanting and reverb, the track finally feels like it has achieved some sort of release or moment of clarity, like a return to earth from some druggy height.
However, despite feeling like an arduous spiritual journey, don’t expect this album to end on a positive note. The final track, “Recede”, is the most terrifying of all, with pitch-distorted growls so menacing and primal they could come from the dark lord himself. These intimidating vocals, along with firm, pulsating ritual drums, bleating organs and cymbal rushes, close out this bad trip of an album and leave you feeling like you’ve just come down from some new, powerful hallucinogen – frightened, but wanting more.
No/Thing CDs and vinyl box sets are available now through Taurus’ Bandcamp. Get your fix here: www.taurusisdust.bandcamp.com/album/no-thing
Editor’s Note: Check out Taurus live in Seattle April 25th at Chop Suey with Atriarch, Golgothan Sunrise and Animal People. Check back here for a chance to win tickets. www.facebook.com/events/562286843878281/
