Achieving their finest font of excess as they continue to break new ground beyond amplifier worship Belfast, Northern Ireland-based doom/sludge metal trio Slomatics have built upon the past successes of their greater discography here on their seventh full-length album as they deal in sharpened songcraft in the process of re-charting their greater map in notable transformation. Showcasing heightened brainwaves within steady meditation, ‘Strontium Fields‘, reads as gloomed-over and sombre as it paints a more peaceful drift which remains outright heavy, a balance which intends to serve the song in every case. Call it maturation or an inevitable maceration of forms by way of a multitudinous choice of reflecting pools, this record provides an unexpectedly new sensation from the trio which they’ve smartly built from old lessons learned thus far, it makes for the sort of record that the old head can still follow along with despite its sudden emergence from its cocoon.

Slomatics formed back near the end of 2004 after their previous crew The Naut had disbanded that same year. The original trio of folks went in the not so unrelated direction of steady-riding sludge at a doom metal ebb focused on a huge guitar driven sound. The original Mark I era of the band includes two very centered full-lengths ‘Flooding the Weir‘ (2004) and ‘Kalceanna‘ (2007) with a huge, nuclear-powered dual baritone guitar sound. These are worth returning to if you’re a student of the riff and want to explore the history of the band who are otherwise best remembered for their split with Conan circa 2011, a release which put both on the map. That’d been the point where drummer/vocalist Joe Henry exited and their ex-The Naut drummer Marty Harvey (War Iron) has filled in since. As we begin to cut through their discography you’ll note that their work would become increasingly effects heavy, messier in form without losing sight of the riff in any case.

Slomatics‘ Mark II era began feeling the heat of the ominous droning noise of the time, leaning into spaced and buzzing sounds on their third LP (‘A Hocht‘, 2012) and adjunct mLP (‘The Future Past‘, 2013) which’d began forming a narrative that’d eventually span a trilogy of full-lengths in tandem with the employment of James Plotkin for a truly outsized sound. This wasn’t the point where they blew up just yet but it was an evolution that’d granted the trio their step from sludge/doom simplicity to a deeper atmosphere of spaced and psychedelic doom tipped melodicism all leading up to the still well-loved breakthrough of ‘Estron‘ (2014). Any fan of this realm of heady doomed music could pick up any one record from their discography up to that point and get it but it was that fifth album that’d nailed a busier, most unique sound. Their slightly more stoner metallic/early Cathedral-esque sound reached for weirding synths more often while still upholding the plodding grooves of sludge and this continues to be part of Slomatics‘ signature today. ‘Future Echo Returns‘ (2016) made it official, the band’s biggest sound and a thundering conclusion to their narrative achieve this high point of gloss and stylized sound that’d been satisfying as a fresh peak but not their most memorable release from my point of view.

Clean, sombre and soaring vocals alongside bigger synth/keyboards and a more traditional stoner/doom metal approach made a big splash on parts of ‘Canyons‘ (2019), likely an ear-catcher if you’re a fan of records like ‘Forest of Equilibrium‘ but it’d not made much of a connection with me at the outset and my review was underwhelmed to some degree. That’d been the wrong reaction on my part, now appreciating the lead that album was in hindsight where I’ve found it to be one of Slomatics‘ best releases to date, a very different and fresh-minded release which expanded upon not only the emotional range and timbre of Harvey‘s vocals but also the incorporation of keyboards in developing memorable longer form melodic phrases; That not so distant sixth LP counts for a lot as we approach this latest record. With ‘Strontium Fields‘ the band state their sound intends to incorporate more cumulative feats, inspired by a post-pandemic minded point of celebration which leaves no stone unturned and/or polish under-applied on this latest album. This means at one point we’ve got the sensitive stargazing hymnal soul of “Time Capture” shining in mind and the next a heavier chunking sludge/doom bruiser on (the keyboard heavy dramatism of) “Like a Kind of Minotaur” after it, while Harvey‘s vocals have retained their tuneful strength amidst the thick and volatile layers surrounding.

To be fair opener “Wooden Satellites” is just as big of a buzzer, a lumbering doom metal piece which, along with “I, Neanderthal”, reinforces the highs of ‘Canyons‘ and leans deeper into both classics-bound feeling and the organic yet enormous sound design the band’ve become known for. Again, the vocals from Harvey have found their full range between the 2012-2016 trilogy of psychedelic sludged reach and merged with the wizened soul arisen since for a best yet realized, far more memorable end result from Slomatics. Smaller touches make a big difference here whether it is the unsettling piano that ends “I, Neanderthal” and its unresolved outburst or the upward glaring warble of the synths that brace most of “Time Capture”. We do not only see the thoughtfully dramatic side of the band on this album exclusively but the first four pieces generate a Side A finds a way to incorporate new emotional intelligence with rousingly over the top sonic excess.

Side B is nonetheless crestfallen, crystallized in thought as “Voidians” plucks through its shimmering introduction and the vocalist once again begins to belt through its opening verses, a dance between quiet reflection and a monastery-sized resonance per the two main guitarists who once again build a melody sophisticated by a funereal keyboard layer deeper set in the mix, set to ring just above the drums. At this point the full listen has been not only dramatic, earnest in its vocal phrasing but decidedly chill and not necessarily forlorn as expected. “Zodiac Arts Lab” b/w the uneventful “ARCS” almost feel like the beginnings of a radio ready rock pieces in transition towards the end of the album and this is the one point on ‘Strontium Fields‘ where I’d felt I’d stepped astray of the ruddy taste of the doomed underground for a moment too long. To be fair there’d been Solstice records in the mid-90’s that’d hit me in a similar way due to their expressive vocalists so, it is all relative. As the album grinds out its final epic (“With Dark Futures”) the space set between the heaviest side of Slomatics and the softest side feels like a wide-berth given between two worlds which amounts to a memorable dynamic but one estranged from the guitar clobbered sludge/stoner doom excess of the past.

Considered as a whole ‘Strontium Fields‘ might intend to be representative and source cumulatively from Slomatics‘ past but ends up unavoidably manifesting a transformative outcome, that which satisfies the requirements for progress made beyond the leap of their previous album. Not only is their work even more tuneful this time around but squarely achieves its sombre yet celebratory moodiness away from the emotionless droning one’d expect from a classic-era sludge/doom metal hybrid. A well-rounded running order, sharp but not too glossy production values, decidedly connective performances and an especially fine gatefold-ready cover artwork from Ryan Lesser ensure that it’ll make good sense as an addition to their ‘ready hulking discography while also reading as a high point for anyone willing to see their work as dimensional beyond monolithic riffcraft. A high recommendation.

---