Apothecary-Drifting Towards the Ancients

I’m sitting here, just having finished listening to Apothecary’s stellar debut,“Drifting Towards the Ancients”, and I can honestly say that I feel as if my head has been thoroughly smashed in by the hammer of despair that Apothecary wields. My initial reaction is to compare them to Pallbearer, both bands being from Little Rock, Arkansas, and both bands being deliciously doomy, but Apothecary appeals to a much more raw and primal side of the psyche than Pallbearer’s morose gloom. From the get-go “Drifting Towards the Ancients” bashes you senseless with thudding drums, rumbling bass, and thick guitars, all riding on waves of palpable grief that perfectly convey a feeling of pure emotional torment. They masterfully blend doom with the ferocity of death metal, producing a one two punch that smothers the airy melancholy of traditional doom with flourishes of raw intensity. The result is quite potent, as the record never lets up in its endless quest to demolish your senses.

As far as comparisons go, I catch many influences bubbling up from underneath Apothecary’s sludgy mire. Trappings of old (Volume One era) Sleep are present, with the raw shouts sounding much like Al Cisneros crossed with the nicotine and whiskey drenched screams of Eyehategod’s Mike Williams. The low growls are nice quite well done, reminding me of Bell Witch or Loss’s approach to vocals. The real variety comes with the clean vocals, though, which really shine on the third track “No Void to Feed On.” Cutting through the sludge like knives, the haunting, aghast vocals really steal the show. It is as if Apothecary takes the best bits of all their peers and combine it to create an extremely potent doom record. Traces of stoner fuzz from Sleep and Electric Wizard, the morose crooning akin to Warning or Pallbearer, monolithic riffs that you want to hear for days, haunting lead lines, raw, sludgy shouting, it’s all present in this record, and to top it off, it is all done quite well.

A minor gripe, I do wish the guitars were a bit more defined in the mix. While I’m not a fan of overproduction on doom records, I feel that on this particular one they could be a tad more prominent and defined, as the riffs kick ass and I’d love to hear them more clearly. The bass also tends to blend into the guitar riffs quite simply, which isn’t too much of a problem, but I’d love to hear what they could do to stand out. Another quite recent doom release, Unmercenaries “Fallen in Disbelief” had an amazing bass tone and sound, which I’d really love to hear more doom bands experiment with.

In summation, though, I really can’t think of a better way to spend 5 bucks. Apothecary have crafted an extremely solid debut that sets out to crush, and succeeds. Keep an eye on these guys – I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Score: 9/10

Favorite Tracks: No Void to Feed On, Fortune Doesn’t Smile On the Damned

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