Review: Faetooth ‘Remnants Of The Vessel’
Faetooth is an LA based doom metal band formed in 2019 by long-time friends Ashla Chavez Razzano and Ari May on guitar, Jenna Garcia on bass, all of whom share vocal duties, with Rah Kanan on drums. Remnants Of The Vessel, will be the band’s first full-length release, set to drop on October 28th, 2022 through Dune Altar. The album cover is a peach-based piece which is quite elegant and beautifully appealing. Tasteful yet dark, which matches the music quite well.
(i) naissance brings us in, transporting us into Faetooth’s world via orchestral cacophony, which collapses into Echolalia, starting with a lovely dark riff before launching into a field of angry dirty guitars and bass. The clean verses back up to make room for the captivating vocals, which make the familiar light/dark mix of the verse and chorus a lot more flavourful. Heavy segments with harsh vocals, like the bridge on this track, are full of fierce delivery.
La Sorcière pairs the sweet clean guitar tones with the deliciously fuzzy bass, and intriguing vocals. Featuring some great hooks with the riffs and vocals sharing the spotlight. This song starts to go into trippy territories, which Faetooth seems quite fit for.
She Casts A Shadow continues these witchy vibes. Songs often tend to crescendo into full-on insanity little by little. This track is a slow groove with a lot of build-up, racketing up the distressing ambiance, eventually flowing into (ii) limbo, which seems to be a sci-fi horror scene that traps the listener in. Remains strikes a romantic note after all that madness. Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing. This song drowns in melancholy, laying beautifully in a perfect place.
Riffs and melodies brimming with loneliness and longing…
Discarnate is more ferocious aggressive sludge. The band’s riffing stays simple but powerful throughout, and while they explore plenty of trippy textures and dirt, for the most part, they stick to a solid sound that has clearly been borne out of the band member’s close relationships and collaboration.
Strange Ways might be the most melancholic piece, really slow and light, yet sad as fuck and pregnant with dark feelings, while the chorus applies the good old dark/distorted dynamic. The songs often go into great riffing sections towards the end showing great talent in riffability, but it could be worked more organically into song structures for more variety.
The orchestra on (iii) moribund sounds exactly like its title before it segues into the final track Saturn Devouring His Son which sees the band delivering another slow light/dark song, with extra strings and deep captivating vocals making it go for that extra epicness.
Remnants Of The Vessel is pretty fucking sad. It affected my mood the whole day after listening to it. I think thatis a testament to the quality of Faetooth’s incantations.
Label: Dune Altar
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Goro Riffs
