Album Review: Boobs of Doom – Sedation of the Ancients (Self Released)

12 albums. 12 months. Throughout ALL of 2019.

What a plan from Boobs of Doom, a sensational amalgamation of depressive drone, doom, death, distortion and much more. Their 12 albums, 12-month plan is something truly unique and it has certainly got our attention. However, the reasoning behind it is best described by the band themselves:

“Five years weev been at this. Still not dead yet; which is surprising to us considering the lengths those years went to to try and break us. 2018 was a proper hateful cunt-lump of a year for us Boobs: We lost too many furbabies; too many funerals; too many abhorrent political crooks running the shitshow (THE FILTH!); too many bloody horrible sheeple complicitly lapping up the shite (THE SCUM); rapidly declining chronic health issues, diseases and new afflictions; and far FAR too much fucking PAIN!

Squinting out at the world in 2018 from a haze of brainfog, canabis and prescription painkillers, we never thought we’d get so fatigued hating stupid stuff, but everything fatigues us these days. which amounted to only one cassette release (YO, ODD CHORUS PEEPS!) and a 2 track album for charidee. The only thing we were really thankful to 2018 for was all the support for Carrie’s Fund. Carrie hit her gofundme target and got the surgery she needed. Fuck knows how we’d have handled it if she hadn’t. Regardless, thankya-hjoojbig to all the BODies who contributed or helped spread the word.

We digress.

Time was we had a reputation for being prolific and could punt oot anything up to 4 albums (and a mixtape in a pear tree!) per year. Circumstances being what they are, our output was waaaay below our weird self-imposed projections/deadlines.

In lieu of all this we ought to be planning our jump off some high cliffs, but no. We have elected to celebrate 5 years as a band instead. so, here it is:

In reality, we embedded secret knowledge, subliminal messages, psychic vampirism and theta wave manipulation into one great big 13 hour long album, chopped into chunks and are dribbling them out over the year. The concept is that if it gets enough simultaneous listeners, the themes and ideas encoded within the music and art will resonate on a global scale and kickstart the next strange stage of human (r)evolution! Unless yr a Greedhead or the FILTH, in that case yr head will explode. Cool, huh? Grand concepts R US. LOL. Weer setting ourselves up to fail but that’s okay.

In practice, each ‘album ‘(..,’episode’, ‘segment’ or whatever pretentious bollocks title we eventually decide is cannon) will be musically and thematically different from the last and you should come to recognise them each as a different aspect of our oeuvre; psychedelic / dub / heavy / drone / soundtrack / doom etcetera. There’s even a ‘pop’ album. 12 of the fuckers. Yaaaas. You lucky BODies! We’ll warn ye now: this shit might fuck you up …in a good way ….maybe…

Part one, entitled “esc.” was January’s release and you can read our review here. February’s was Terror Management Theory at you can read that review here. Aonach Eagach was March’s entry and you can read that review here. April’s release was called wEIRD aRT rIOT and you can read that review here. May’s release was called Sorcerer and you can read that review here. 

Which brings us to the half way point. June’s release was called Skeleton Jazz Wizard and you can read that review here. July’s release was called Endless Doomlord Syndrome and you can read that review here. Now, in August, it’s time for the Sedation of the Ancients.

The mammoth task of Boobs of Doom continues into August and we find ourselves drifting into the cold vacuum of nothing once again. Dissolving amongst the twisted sounds of electronica and noise as DREAMS CANNOT SUSTAIN YOU, MAY OUR NIGHTMARE MOTIVATE YOU welcomes us to Sedation of the Ancients.

Not alone in its mammoth length (19+ minutes) it and the following tracks aim to create as much dissonance as possible. As the first track on the new album it’s like being hooked up to a machine that assaults your eyes with flashing colours and trippy sights while these noises come through headphones creating an insane soundtrack. Close your eyes right now…can you see the madness unfolding? Direction changes are subtle here and the only really significant one comes near the end.

Thought that was wacky? You’ve not been paying attention to Boobs of Doom’s year long output as L’espirit d’escalier // L’appel du Vide ups the stakes in just how much the duo are pushing the envelope even in the world of noise.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. arrives next and then continues to test the limits of what the mind can handle as we get nearly 17 minutes of sonic abuse. Not in the ‘blast-beat fury’ way but rather the systematic destruction of the minds faculties with effects, echoes and feedback.

Finally, the excellently titled – Father, the Sky is Falling, and They’re Worrying About Walls When We Don’t Even Have A Roof – closes out August’s offering. The drone subtle and echoing, a blinking light in the distance of infinite darkness. No choice but to head towards it even if it means death.

Boobs of Doom – Sedation of the Ancients Full Track Listing:

1. DREAMS CANNOT SUSTAIN YOU, MAY OUR NIGHTMARE MOTIVATE YOU
2. L’espirit d’escalier // L’appel du Vide
3. S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
4. Father, the Sky is Falling, and They’re Worrying About Walls When We Don’t Even Have A Roof

Links

Bandcamp | Website | Facebook Page | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube