"Apocalyptic" is a word thrown around a lot in reviews, to the point where readers could really stop putting any stock in it. But many genres, like black metal, drone, and probably even folk, really do have a few artists deserving of this most serious adjective because of their unnerving atmospheres and epic, timeless approaches. For the doom metal genre, Indian is definitely one of those bands of truly apocalyptic proportions. I'll tell you one thing: this band knows how to make one hell of an ugly doom album.
While Indian's previous album, The Unquiet Sky, proved the band's ability to make dense, evil, groovy, and feedback-drenched doom, Slights and Abuse / The Sychophant (a compilation of two LPs onto one CD) shows simultaneously both progression of artistic vision and devolution into the rawest, most feral doom imaginable. The guitars and bass sound like bottomless pits of fuzz, the drums are spastic and relentless, and the vocals are wicked and throaty. The grooves are still there under all of the crushing sound, but they aren't as slow, comforting, and predictable as they used to be.
There is not one breath of fresh air on this album; it's absolutely uncompromising, an ethic not normally present in doom, except at the dronier end of the genre with bands such as Khanate or Atavist. This album is in turn both minimalistic and experimental, with traditional sludge and doom elements grafted onto a structure of mechanical mid-paced Shellac-like rhythms, slo-mo crust punk, off-the-wall experimentation, and free form noise. There is a pervasive feeling of tension and discomfort on this album, almost as if Burning Witch decided to cover Big Black.
Slights and Abuse / The Sychophant is a punishing metal album that stretches the definition of the doom subgenre to a place only open-minded metal fanatics may be willing to go. The production on Slights and Abuse / The Sychophant, although it fits the extreme aesthetics of the album, just doesn't quite measure up to the density and weight of the sound on The Unquiet Sky. Indian's latest release raises the discomfort level a few notches. If you are in need of a traditional doom metal album to space out to, then this isn't the right place to look, but if you are in the mood for something a bit more brutal and challenging, then you've come to the right place.
