Single Review: The Aurouchs – Ensnared

Here we have the second single from Auckland-based instrumental doom outfit Thousand Limbs. It is taken from their forthcoming debut album The Aurouchs, which is a ten-part song-cycle based on Kakuan Shien’s Ten Ox Herding Pictures, and is set to be released later this year, with each of the ten songs being based on one of the ten woodcuts. Thanks to Google I now know he was a 12th Century Chinese Zen master – who says metal can’t be highbrow? Although in their email they describe themselves as doom, do not for one minute think we have a sludge-driven monster or something cranking out slow riffs like Sabbath or Candlemass, as for these guys I would say doom is more about the feeling and presence as opposed to “just” about the music. The album was recorded and mixed by the mighty Dave Rhodes so of course the sound is spot on, with the bottom end full of crunch and the drums hitting hard.

This is powerful stuff, full of passion and depth, yet while it can be brutal at times, there are also elements such as a gentle cymbal here, or a twist there, which somehow both lightens the mood yet also ensures everything comes back heavier. To be truly heavy one must have lightness, to be brutal one needs to be soft, to show speed one needs to be slow, and this track has all these things and more. It is a mini epic even though it is less than seven minutes in length, packed with atmosphere, and never once seems like just the second single from a band who have yet to release an album as this is polished and refined while losing none of its edge. Incredibly solid.