Dove
2004
No Idea!
Two or so months ago, I wrote a review for the Floridan doom metal band Floor's debut, their self titled. In the review I praised everything about the album, calling it "a masterpiece of doom metal music". A few months have passed and after listening to the album several times over, I've come to the realization that it wasn't nearly as good as I thought. The vocals by Steve Brooks were downright unlistenable at times, the album was annoyingly flat and one-note through the majority of it's run-time, and the the album was so short that it wasn't really even a lasting experience. I also stated that I loved the "punk" elements in the album, to which I've also come to realize are nonexistent. The closest it comes is Brooks' clean vocals, but as aforementioned, those are borderline not passable.
This rapid barrage of epiphanies sort of felt like a cop-out to me, as I'd had so much respect for creativity that wasn't really even there in the first place. I felt like I cheated my own emotions. I needed some solace, some recompense from this band I had liked so much. Thus, I moved on to their second album, titled Dove.
Thank the gods. Everything I thought I liked about Floor's debut is here in actuality, and it is goddamn glorious. There's actual punk influence, actually good vocals, and that wonderful sludge is still palpable. Let's be a bit more specific, though.
I've always liked fusion bands, especially when it comes to metal. So when I discovered Floor's punk and hardcore punk (which they most likely learned from playing with Spazz in '94) aspects to their overall doom metal style, I was thrilled to say the least. These were sort of just hinted at on the self-titled, but here they are flagrant. The wonderful thing however is these aren't the only influence on this record. Floor takes elements from classics like Black Sabbath, from the hardcore punk movement of the 70's and 80's, and about everything in between. In order to do this correctly though, Floor would have had to make some drastic changes:
1. Be more energetic.
2. Be more melodic.
3. Blend in with each-other musically
4. Tune down heaviness in order to showcase slightly more complex songwriting.
I've always liked fusion bands, especially when it comes to metal. So when I discovered Floor's punk and hardcore punk (which they most likely learned from playing with Spazz in '94) aspects to their overall doom metal style, I was thrilled to say the least. These were sort of just hinted at on the self-titled, but here they are flagrant. The wonderful thing however is these aren't the only influence on this record. Floor takes elements from classics like Black Sabbath, from the hardcore punk movement of the 70's and 80's, and about everything in between. In order to do this correctly though, Floor would have had to make some drastic changes:
1. Be more energetic.
2. Be more melodic.
3. Blend in with each-other musically
4. Tune down heaviness in order to showcase slightly more complex songwriting.
These are some big steps that are difficult for any doom band to take. First off, Floor's debut was obviously not one that was melodic or energetic. The guitars monotonously cranked out usually 5-6 note variations, but extended to three or so minutes. Where the complexity really shined through was the drumming. Jeff Sousa didn't really feel like a doom drummer like Chris Hakius- he wasn't nearly as slow and trudging as one might expect a drummer of his kind to be. While this factor could have been utilized to great effect, it unfortunately was not. Dove fixes that by having Vialon and Brooks easily keep up and making actually great, fast-paced songs. Blending was another big problem for Floor; by each other the band was fantastic, but they lacked the cohesion to create thought-provoking music like they should be. I tend to chock this up to playing on only splits for the 10 years before their first record, so they weren't exactly familiar on their own just yet. Dove is much better about that; like I said before the band is much better paced about than before, mainly due to them being much more melodious. Finally there's the issue about heaviness. What of the biggest things Floor's known for is their crushing, laboriously unforgiving heaviness. But this also created a problem: Floor couldn't continue only crunching out ultra-heavy riffs without risking musical integrity. So on Dove they made a choice to tune it down. A hard choice it might have been, but it worked wonders for the band's aesthetic. There was more room for better bridges, more interesting vocal harmonies, and much better stoner effects than before.
The tracks themselves are wonderful. Unlike the criminally short run-time of the debut, Dove cracks a healthy half-hour. This much more lengthy album length is due to the whopping 18 minute long title-track epic, who's quality rivals that of Sleep's Dopesmoker. If you are at all missing the heaviness of their 90's work or their debut, then I suggest you check out either the epic or'Floyd', the latter being more akin to "Kallisti" from the S/T. But like I said before the best songs are those that are more fast-paced, and for that I suggest the aforementioned 'In A Day' or my personal favorite 'Figure It Out'. Although the production and volume mixing can be a bit wonky at times, at others it can be so well mixed (like at the end of 'Figure It Out') that it becomes almost entrancing. 'Namaste' would be okay, however it suffers from a short length and badly produced/sung vocals. Overall though, Dove has a fantastic track-list that I just can't stop coming back to.
Dove is much more of a romp through an essential doom release than Floor's prior effort. Everything shines from the increased musicianship, improved production, and far better written songs. Floor's Dove, for me, is the new doom standard.
The tracks themselves are wonderful. Unlike the criminally short run-time of the debut, Dove cracks a healthy half-hour. This much more lengthy album length is due to the whopping 18 minute long title-track epic, who's quality rivals that of Sleep's Dopesmoker. If you are at all missing the heaviness of their 90's work or their debut, then I suggest you check out either the epic or'Floyd', the latter being more akin to "Kallisti" from the S/T. But like I said before the best songs are those that are more fast-paced, and for that I suggest the aforementioned 'In A Day' or my personal favorite 'Figure It Out'. Although the production and volume mixing can be a bit wonky at times, at others it can be so well mixed (like at the end of 'Figure It Out') that it becomes almost entrancing. 'Namaste' would be okay, however it suffers from a short length and badly produced/sung vocals. Overall though, Dove has a fantastic track-list that I just can't stop coming back to.
Dove is much more of a romp through an essential doom release than Floor's prior effort. Everything shines from the increased musicianship, improved production, and far better written songs. Floor's Dove, for me, is the new doom standard.
2016 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher
Originally written for Metal Music Archives on 11/16/2016.
Visit the site at www.metalmusicarchives.com
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