Southern Lord
2007
Om
Pilgrimage
About This Album
After the collaborative EP Om -- bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Haikus -- did with Current 93, with its rather bludgeoning sense of non-float space attack, "logic" perhaps dictates that Pilgrimage would follow that ragged pied piper into the ether. Not so. These four cuts offer four widely divergent takes on the bass, drum, sounds, and ambient space that this pair have made a trademark since the disbanding of the unholy stoner rock trio Sleep. These cuts, ranging from a little over four minutes to nearly twelve, may follow an instrumental formula, but the sheer amount of blissful and chaotic havoc they can wreak with the brain (especially at delightfully high volume) can't be boxed. While the title track that bookends the set (there is a shorter reprise of it at the end) is simply mantra-like in its long, slowly unwinding way that never leaves its center of gravity -- because it has no center and hovers between heaven (of some kind) and earth -- it's pure, spooky poetry. Cisneros' vocals are lower than his bass, which alternates around a four-note pattern with droning notes throughout its ten-and-a-half minute length. They are not entirely whispered, they are more like gently chanted.
Track List (try tracks 1,2 and 3)

1.
2.
3.
4.

 
report abuse