I don’t know about you, but I love me some doom metal that is uncompromising and has a feel to it that’s heavier than the center of the f**king sun. I noticed a severe lack of that in my life the other day and decided to go and find something in the bowels of Bandcamp to see if I could find something, and after sifting through multitudes of albums and EP’s, I came across Dragged’s debut album “We Summon” and let me tell you that the words “heavy” and “awesome” don’t even begin to describe this record. Only five tracks to its name and well an hour of music to go through, Dragged have created an album that true doom fans should swarm around should they hear it because not only does this German duo stick to the traditions of longer tracks (2 of which being over 20 minutes) they manage to create an experience that is ever entertaining with no beat, riff, style, or overall feel go on long enough for you to think about getting bored with the music or think that there’s a lack of diversity within a “We Summon”. Not only do the riff filled guitars do well alongside the crushing bass, earthquake inducing drums, and haunting vocals, but this record contains some extremely well done segments with instruments that are “unconventional” for doom metal which includes but is in no way limited to a piano, chimes, something along the lines of a violin, and even more to add in this sense of ambiance that truly make you feel like your drifting amongst the colorful cosmos that’s beautifully displayed on that cover art. The vocals are absolutely haunting as they are barely audible behind all the heaviness eminating out of the rest of band which to me makes “We Summon” all the more delicious. It’s like how with black metal a lot of times you can’t hear what the f**k the vocals are saying because they sound like they’re coming from a million miles away, just take that exact concept and apply it with Dragged and boom you got yourself the same product that’s just as awesome – maybe even a little more so. And when you bring all of that amazingness together you get this ridiculously heavy, monstrous album that is perfect for any fan of doom that likes their blend of metal heavy, slow and intense most of the time but not afraid to pick up the pace, and tracks long enough to make a casual listener sigh in boredom, but us real fans of the subgenre can and will revel in that brilliant factor of “We Summon”. A debut the likes of which some bands only dare to fathom about in their dreams, Dragged pull of a Grade A++ record that is criminally unknown. I promise you that this is only the beginning for this pair and “We Summon”, while ridiculously awesome, is only the humble beginnings of these two.
You can stream “We Summon” in full via Bandcamp here. Track Listing:
1. Morph Obelisks
2. Streams of Time…They Bathed Us
3. Interlude
4. Through Sand and Stone
5. We Summon
