Back in 2012, out of the underground world emerged Bevar Sea
with their doomy 70’s stoner rock, taking over the country (and to a certain
extent the world) by a storm. The band gained a massive following in the next
couple of years, with the legions chanting and hymning along at every live performance
of the band. Fast forward to 2015, the band has released their sophomore album –
Invoke the Bizarre.
With expectations and hopes sky-high after the earlier
mentioned s/t debut, the band takes a different path and delivers a monstrous
record! Unlike many other acts, Bevar Sea does not stick to the tried and
tested formula, but instead ventures into newer darker territories. The music
on the album is much darker, dirtier than their debut, yet with its own
graceful beauty. It’s not that the band has totally abandoned their old sound,
but rather evolved it into a much more eerie form.
True to the artwork and the overall running theme through
the album, the band manages to create riffs that seem to crawl out of the listener’s
skin into the marshy murky lands that lie ahead. The listener is drowned in the
music of “Sleeping Pool” with the riffs and vocals getting progressively
heavier and ghastly respectively. The melody of the lead guitar playing over
the distorted background riffs is just beautifully stirring, creating an
atmosphere of gloom as it spreads out.
The band clearly are not afraid of experimenting, bringing
in some elements of thrash into “Where There's Smoke (There is a Pyre)”, while still
keeping its feet in the doomed lands, to a wonderful effect. But the best off
the album is reserved for the last in the form of “The Grand Alignment”. The
stars align in such a perfect manner for the band, as they go on to create what
can be only described as a perfect synchronization of traditional heavy metal
and the stoner/doom metal music, an amalgamation that brings out the best of
both. The last hook of the track, ends on a classical slow broody note as one
looks to the sky’s having travelled through to the end of the marshy lands,
that Invoke the Bizarre is.
This is an album, that grows on the listeners with every
spin. Much like the groves that grow in the marshes, the album takes its time
for the beholder to truly appreciate its beauty. Definitely one of the best
doom metal release of the year!
P.S: This album along with Shepherd’s Stereolithic Riffalocalypse,
are two of the finest doom metal releases I have come across this year (2015).
A huge props to both the bands, for placing India in the international doom
metal map! Check them out if you have not already done so.
