Four tracks and near 46 minutes and yet no real Doom record? Yes. QAALM from Los Angeles have stepped a bit away from their previous hunting grounds and simultaneously have stepped up their game indubitably. Their second full-length Grave Impressions of an Unbroken Arc show a band that is not tiptoeing around in one genre but easily in multiple directions, at the same time, while never forgetting about the song itself. Milestone record if one should bother to ask me.
When we reviewed their first full length Resilience and Despair 2,5 years ago, one might not have foreseen this twist and leap in songwriting and open-mindedness. The trio has achieved something that bands usually should not attempt to do and in nearly all cases are unable to succeed in anyway. They have written a perfect Peaceville Records record without being part of their roster. This record would do perfectly in a collection only consisting of the classic Peaceville stable of the early 90s: One can find a vocalist as adapt at combining immense guttural vocals and mesmerizing Gothic-infused clean vocals as, let’s say Aaron Stainthorpe of My Dying Bride or (in parts) Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost. The drumming is as immaculately proggy and still definitely heavy as on the early Opeth records (here the only exception might be a lack of Black Metal blasts as we got for example with Darkthrone). The clean semi-acoustic guitar lines are as melancholic as on records by Anathema or Katatonia. And when taking all of the harder riffs and elements together, the record could also hold up with the last of the stable, Autopsy.
So, the normal question to ask here is: Why should I listen to (or even buy) a record that tries to emulate the classics which I already got at home? Because the band does not try to emulate or try to play the imitation game, they do not try to decipher the enigma. The four tracks all hold a wonderfully reminiscent vibe in a certain way, but they surely have not aimed at going full-blast clone game. There are several elements on this record that would not fit a Peaceville Stable record: The Jazzy, Math-like interplay in ”Hangman’s Lament” or the sometimes classic 80s extreme Metal parts in ”Shadows Behind the Sun”. This record surely stands on its own six feet. The fact that it was conceived with the help of some masters of their craft - Paul Fig engineered the production and Zeuss mixed and mastered the tracks.
QAALM have hewn a record from a monolith edging on a lot of genres – Death Metal, Doom, Heavy Metal and surely many more – however, there are two things for sure for the trio now: They have found their sound and soul and, from here on forwards, should have our undivided attention, for there are still many rocks to crack for these guys and I cannot wait to see which statue will appear out of thin air right before our eyes!
