Simultaneously releasing an unrealized decade-old past alongside a clear windowpane’d view of their new selves Lima, Peru-based doom metal quartet ARGUL present this debut full-length album as a record of what has been and what will be. Rooted in a love of old, bluesy psychedelic rock empowered stoner gloom and a more modern, thinking n’ feeling form of doom metal ‘Soledad & Orgullo‘ speaks the timeless language of existential dread (en Español) and its carriage within their souls over time. The result is a deep stare into past selves and future frequencies alike on this dreary, heady and occasionally hard rocking record.

Argul formed back in 2014 between guitarists Mauricio Guerrero (Illwind) and Jose Venturi (Arcada) taking inspiration from auld heavy psych and stoner metal a la Witchcraft or Trouble alongside the doom revival acts of the prior decade such as Reverend Bizarre. Their timeline gets pretty weird from there as it seems the material for this debut full-length and its four songs was recorded in 2017 but shelved until recently and a 2018 recorded four-song demo (which is not available online) was released back in 2023. The fifth song included here, “Kamog” was recorded ~ten years beyond the other material. I’m not necessarily skeptical of this but caught somewhat off-guard by the age of the album and the lack of contrast between their older stuff and the most recent song, ‘Soledad & Orgullo‘ more or less plays out like a natural debut even if it is technically a “compilation” in my book.

The sauntering hum through opener “Ritual” casts a fairly wide net here where a baseline of stoney psychedelic doom is given surreal, traditional doom metal stoked trot and vocals which reflect the more spaced melodrama of bands like Pallbearer and Yob as the song builds. Upward wandering basslines and bluesier guitar solos lend Argul a compelling first impression but their sort of default stoner/doom mode speaks more heartily on the two inner album pieces (“Engendro” b/w “Hor Hodin”) are a bit more typical in their quicker, catchier kick through. In terms of psychedelic doom out of the western side of South America, very broadly speaking of course, their approach is less inoculated with the Electric Wizard school of doom but also doesn’t quite speak to the retro 70’s heavy rock and prog side of things either.

Beyond the first few pieces we find more of a ‘Sorrow & Extinction‘ type of solemnity draped across “Animal Dog” in particular but also newer piece “Kamog”, both of which extend beyond the ten minute mark in their travels. These, paired with “Ritual”, appear to be more along the lines of what Argul have evolved into in the decade since recording this debut where glassier atmosphere and slower droning movement still carry the ability to bring metallic jog and/or heavy rock leads into their action. If nothing else this debut LP carries an appreciably dire form of modern stoner/doom metal while communicating some of the possibilities going forward.

The optics of ‘Soledad & Orgullo‘ are kinda weird on approach, basically an unreleased decade old record, but the end result does a fine job of introducing Argul‘s old-meets-new approach either way. Whatever they do in the future I’ve some hope they cling to some of the ideas found on their shorter stoner/doom metal pieces as these do well to break up the ataraxic quality of the full listen and could accommodate their interest in progressive rock otherwise. A moderately high recommendation.

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