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Apothecary - Drifting Towards The Ancients review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
7.0

7 users:
6.14
Band: Apothecary
Album: Drifting Towards The Ancients
Release date: April 2015


01. Fortune Doesn't Smile On The Damned [feat. Kayla Smalley]
02. Dawn On Me
03. No Void To Feed On
04. Gamma Soul
05. Into The Cauldron

So about a month ago, a little-known band from the States called Apothecary contacted me, asking me if I'd like to review an album of theirs. After ruling out my initial theory that the band was simply my older self sending recordings to my younger self from the future, I sat down for some music that, while somewhat trite, nonetheless has a lot of potential lurking within it.

Drifting Towards The Ancients, the debut effort from Apothecary, is a death doom album containing a lot of that second one and very, very little of the first one. Being predominantly doom, as one could imagine, the music here is crunchy, heavy, and at times even surprisingly catchy (see "Dawn On Me" especially). At times the rhythmic pulse of the doom gives way to some more melodic interludes that are quite relaxed and airy, most notably towards the middle of "Gamma Soul." Though these sections are often brief, the transition between them and the thicker, more riff-heavy tone that dominates is smooth, natural, and well executed. The album is definitely a bit of a grower in this respect: the more you listen to those shifts between heavy and melodic, the more you come to appreciate how well the band has this technique down.

The death metal side of things, however, is where Apothecary begin to encounter some issues. Other than the presence of some deep, guttural growls, this side of the band's personality is virtually absent on Drifting Towards The Ancients, and as a result, it feels rather underdeveloped and somewhat unnecessary in the composition as a whole. When taking the clean vocals on the album into consideration, powerful outbursts that could fit splendidly in an epic doom band, the growls by contrast feel rather weak and uninspired, and raise the question of where exactly Apothecary were trying to go with this aspect of their sound.

Drifting Towards The Ancients, while not a bad release, would quite likely do much better with either the expansion upon, or the all out elimination of, its death metal elements. Preferably the latter; in a way the growls here feel as if they're holding the album back, and are simply not needed when considering how well everything else fits together without them. As a whole, this debut of Apothecary would probably be a lot more enjoyable as a purely doom album, even if not a highly original one, as the band have a much better grasp on that sound and are clearly more comfortable with it. Final ruling here? Many good ideas at work, but the "not so good" ones could use a little refinement.

Go have a peek.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 6
Production: 7





Written on 30.04.2015 by Metal Storm’s own Babalao. Comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable since 2013.


Comments

Comments: 10   Visited by: 138 users
30.04.2015 - 05:56
Karlabos
Meat and Potatos
Wut? Why is there no Karlabos band? xD
----
"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
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30.04.2015 - 11:40
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Now I know where does band name comes from, seems they are inspired from Che nick here
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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30.04.2015 - 13:14
Paz
Nuclear Cowboy
Written by Karlabos on 30.04.2015 at 05:56

Wut? Why is there no Karlabos band? xD

Same here but at least my namesake is a guitarist in a punk band

As for the album, I might even enjoy it.
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30.04.2015 - 16:14
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Written by Bad English on 30.04.2015 at 11:40

Now I know where does band name comes from, seems they are inspired from Che nick here

You never know... apparently they formed in 2012, and I changed my name to Apothecary on here around then. I'm going to claim plagiarism
----
I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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30.04.2015 - 16:21
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Auntie Sahar on 30.04.2015 at 16:14

Written by Bad English on 30.04.2015 at 11:40

Now I know where does band name comes from, seems they are inspired from Che nick here

You never know... apparently they formed in 2012, and I changed my name to Apothecary on here around then. I'm going to claim plagiarism


hahhaha it means perms taken away and total ban LOL
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
30.04.2015 - 17:01
flightoficarus
Stamp Tramp
----
Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches.
Listen to the Trench Talk podcast.
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30.04.2015 - 17:15
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Written by flightoficarus on 30.04.2015 at 17:01

Meme

Got a good guilty chuckle out of me, thank you
----
I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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30.04.2015 - 17:19
flightoficarus
Stamp Tramp
Written by Auntie Sahar on 30.04.2015 at 17:15

Got a good guilty chuckle out of me, thank you


----
Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches.
Listen to the Trench Talk podcast.
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01.05.2015 - 18:16
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
My next review will be for Cynic from Cynic.
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04.05.2015 - 19:15
Rating: 6
Erik M.

Good review. It seems the only real issue is the harsh vocals. Going from your description I would've expected a little higher rating, but that's alright.

Going to check it out for sure, in any case.
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