Haarp - The Filth

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RIYL

Electric Wizard
EyeHateGod
Howl
Bison B.C.

Release Date

11/22/2010

Label

Housecore Records

Tracklist

1. The Rise, the Fall
2. All, Alone
3. A New Reign
4. The Blue Chamber Painted Red
5. Peerless
6. Minutia
7. Here in the Dark
8. Plurimus Humilus, Ciacco
9. The Fall, the Rise

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Recent Ratings

Haarp is one of the newest players in the sludge/doom metal scene, a genre that’s been increasing in popularity over the past few years. Released by Phil Anselmo’s Housecore Records, The Filth is the band’s first full length, clocking in at around sixty minutes from only nine songs, which at least gives listeners their money’s worth, unlike many of the albums released in the last year.

Doom metal is the kind of music that people typically either love or hate and many bands aren’t capable of successfully pulling it off; Haarp, unfortunately, falls into this category. Plain and redundant, The Filth plays it too safely with uninspired songwriting and long, drawn out sequences in just about every song that make the album feel like it goes on forever. The basic staples of sludge and doom metal are present, though, and Haarp pulls them off adequately, but they don’t do anything that particularly stands out, which would help differentiate them from their peers.

The Filth seems promising at first, with “The Rise, the Fall” pummeling the listener with heavy, down-tuned riffs that plod along at an ominous pace layered with monstrous vocals that sound tortured at times. The song is essentially the same riff played over and over again, but it works because the length of the song is kept in check. The same cannot be said for tracks like “Peerless,” however, which goes on for nine minutes and once again keeps repeating the same parts throughout the song, the primary deviation coming from the drums here and there. The majority of the tracks on The Filth are just entirely too long; if you’re going to write lengthy songs, they have to be dynamic and interesting and none of the ones on this album fall into either of those categories.

Haarp is not a bad band, they have some nice grooves on this album and understand the basics behind writing this style of music. Athough, crafting creative tunes is not their forte and they really need to find a way to give their songs more character and variation; cutting the lengths of them in half wouldn’t hurt either. Fans of the genre may still enjoy The Filth, but if you’re not already a follower of doom metal, this won’t be the album to convert you.

--Nicholas Fritz

Last updated: 02/01/2011 06:29AM

Comments

Jacopo ebolarama Olivares
02/01/2011
05:54PM
Age: 24
Location
San Diego, CA

That artwork is something else haha

Too old to bother, too young to give a shit.