Nomad Son - The Eternal Return

Nomad Son hails from Malta and plays what I think is an interesting brand of doom metal. When I think of doom metal or “stoner rock” I usually think of the obvious choices in Sabbath, Vitus, Trouble, Candlemass, Warning, Hour of 13 and the like. I do manage to hear power metal meshing nicely with classic doom here and it’s a good hybrid not easily assembled in one sitting (at least to my ears). So the band is on its second offering in The Eternal Return which hopes to capture the magic on the 2008 debut First Light, which was pretty impressive in its own right.

Some interesting things are happening in here. I have always said I like keyboards that do the job they are intended to do, which is to provide a backdrop of sound and add to the flavor of a song, not take the place of an otherwise boring, underdeveloped guitar player. The keys in here are so fitting and intertwined that they are noticed only when they should be in tracks like “Sigma Draconis” as more of a haunting organ or Moog sound to the average fan. The music on The Eternal Return is certainly doom metal at its finer moments with some typically heavy drop-tuned chords that play upon your inner darkness. “Comatose Souls” sounds like a definite Trouble-inspired bellowing song that moves about the room like a thick mass of storm clouds that drop right above your head and settle there for the interim. Vocalist Jordan Cutajar wails over the track just in time for the Deep Purple-like organ sound to kick in, paying severe homage to the one of the masters of the heavy metal genre. Not sounding dated or boring, Nomad Son cleans the boards with one fell swoop of vibrant metal without reserve.

This album is one of the better ones I’ve listened to in terms of doom metal that doesn’t rely on guttural musings or too-slow, molasses-like music that concentrates more on fuzz and feedback than style and heaviness. First Light held an equally bustling feel to the music, and it’s nice to see the line not only carried on but improved upon in all the right spots. Each song on here possesses its own life source, creating one overall opus of powerful chord progressions and solid production that forces you to repeatedly listen to it as a whole. Highlights are “Guilty as Sin”, “Comatose Souls”, “Winds of Golgotha” and “The Vigil”, though in reality each track is quite good and would appease even the most skeptical doom metal fan in us all.

Nomad Son is really a lesson in modern doom metal and just how easy it is to find the formulas for honest metal music should you really try. There is nothing earth-shaking here that will rewrite history and bump Sabbath off its mighty throne, but for a doom metal fix you can look to The Eternal Return with a certain amount of interest and not walk away disappointed.

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*Comments:

September 10, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Release Date: July 16, 2010
Record Label: Metal on Metal Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Vigil
2.  Sigma Draconis
3.  Comatose Souls
4.  Can't Turn the Tide
5.  Guilty as Sin
6.  Winds of Golgotha
7.  The Eternal Return
8.  Throne of Judgement

Total playing time:  53:53