One Listen Review
1st Listen 2 July 26
Reviewed 3 July 26
Soothsayer – The Unbinding
Apocalyptic Witchcraft
Released 3 July 26
Ireland’s Soothsayer have returned with their 2nd full length album, 5 years on from their debut. Loitering around the blackened doom landscape since 2013, the quintet can hardly be deemed prolific, and so earning a spot on the roster of the rather excellent Apocalyptic Witchcraft is a bit of a boon for them.
The Unbinding opening track, ‘Eroding the Sky’, has a rather decent scream before a perfectly placed ‘oooh’ style grunt starts the track proper. Rampant drumming and a robust grunty vocal gives the song a bit of edgy that the soaring guitar fails to match. The song is nicely paced, but lacks the heavy that doom should provide. Alas, this is indicative of how the rest of the album will play out.
‘Sooner Acceptance’ follows, introducing clean vocals and a slower, more intense approach with meatier riffs – again, true doom heaviness is absent, but this is perhaps because the lads are concentrating on a more blackened approach. This does affect the construct of The Unbinding, as the album never really develops into a clear narrative, never really reaches out and grabs the listener. It is like a recipe with a missing ingredient that brings the whole thing together.
Indeed, across the 5 song, 45 minute long album, songs have moments. But they are brief, fleeting, moments. The guitar work in ‘Endless Shesha’ is more interesting, with a
questioning riff. ‘The Vine’ features vocals that almost rant in their intensity. But these moments are offset by what feels like a lackadaisical approach to the song.
Obviously, the word lackadaisical is a touch unfair, as Soothsayer will have put their collective heart and soul into the album, but the feeling does remain.
The Unbinding is an album of what could have been. Even the sprawling album closer, ‘A Vague Shimmer’, all 13minutes-give or take a second or 5 of it, fails to gel the various ideas the band have. Overly long, it feels its length when you are not even half-way through. Even though the track builds, it is still lacking.
As ever, this is a one-listen review, with the scoring based on the likelihood of me giving The Unbinding further listens, so perhaps I should draw your attention to my colleague’s review at the other site I write for, Metal Epidemic.
‘Admittedly, my first listen of The Unbinding wasn’t positive; my impression was that it didn’t go anywhere. I would have been wrong to leave it at that, because time spent has allowed the album to tighten its coils.’
Malte Brigg – https://www.metalepidemic.com/soothsayer-the-unbinding/
Perhaps, just perhaps, I am wrong just to leave it at this first listen.
The DevilsHorns 
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