Conqueror Worm

I received an e-mail from a member of San Francisco's Conqueror Worm asking me to check out their Myspace page. A doom band who likes Poe and horror movies caught my interest right away so I went over to check them out. They currently have four songs for people to check out. They obviously love horro films and the influences span from the early days of metal in the late 60's/early 70's up to modern doom and includes metal, doom and early black metal that falls in between those two time periods. For some reason my first impression brought thoughts of Electric Wizard's self-titled album. Not so much in style, but more in appraoch because the music is very abstract in it's structure. It's more open in nature rather than being tight structured. I think the approach becuase their is enough going on to sustain your interest. The approach seems more 90's like say early Electric Wizard and Dopesmoker-era Sleep, but the sound is more early 1970's. I was thinking Pentagram and Bang are the band's that the guitar tone reminds me as it's thick yet they depend on lot on very singular notes. A big plus for Conqueror Worm is the rhythm section because too many modern doom bands rely so much on the guitar that they forget about the importance of a heavy foundation depending so much on the drums and bass. These guys get everyone involved from the get go and it gives the music a heavier sound and you can feel the wall of sound just being built up around you. The vocals were alright, spoken at times and more lively at others. I was a little more impressed by the music, but maybe the production is holding them back a little, I am not sure. Yet I certainly liked most of what I heard here and hope they progress towards pushing to do as much as they can. So hop over and check them out.

http://www.myspace.com/myconquerorworm