I can think of very few albums I have ever purchased, listened to once, and sold back to the store. Generally, I am a pretty forgiving guy and I can find something worth listening to on a disc. However, YOB just was not my cup of tea. I don't know what it was, but after I listened to the latest YOB release I was not only unsatisfied, but also thoroughly annoyed. Maybe I got hung up on the vocals a little too much, but I couldn't take it. When I read that they had broken up, I was entirely apathetic.
Then when I read Middian had formed with main song-writer, Mike Scheidt, I was tepid but figured I waste enough time looking up dumb shit on Myspace, I wasn't going to lose much listening to a song. And, I'll be damned if I didn't really like it. I immediately went to the store to see if I could preorder it, but alas I was thwarted by it not being in anyone's current catalog. And so I waited for the glorious day when I would have the disc in my grimy mitts. And now that that day has come, I am very pleased.
At first I dismissed Age Eternal as a faster paced doom record. But really, how can you have faster paced doom? It doesn't work like that. So really, Middian is doing something weird. While slow and beardy is the new emo and whiney, Middian doesn't fall into the trappings of boredom inducing "minimalism." I normally associate stoner metal and doom, which Middian definitely falls under, as depressive. However, the record has a lot more of an ethereal feel to it. Mind you, this isn't heady in the way that you would imagine a space-rock wanna-be stoner-rock, it's what I assume a really frightening drug experience would be like. The sounds are whirling all around you, in uncomfortable repetition, and the churning and thunderous percussion isn't helping any. And then there's this massive voice yelling indecipherable shit at you. However, things finally calm down and there's some creepy woman singingââ¬Â¦only to resubmerge you in the torrent of distortion.
In literal terms, and getting away from what a one-sheet reads like, Middian is a solid band with a very musical knack. It's possible for anyone to go out and buy an Orange, listen to Earth's Earth 2 and mimic that. But Middian utilizes strong songwriting, emphasizing a lot of melody along side the battery of kick-ins. The aforementioned female singing is handled especially well, and for someone who generally finds that shtick grating, I found Age Eternal's use of it not only tasteful, but catchy. And before you scoff at the notion of catchy doom metal, I have to tell you this album isn't even all that slow. It definitely has a lulling element to it, but a lot of the tracks feature something that you might even consider mid-paced hardcore.
Lastly, though this is released on Metal Blade, which generally sucks in my opinion, this is especially enjoyable. Had this come out on Relapse, I'm sure it would garner more attention, but don't let the money going into it fool you. This is definitely a solid record.
