Band:	Talbot
Album:	EOS
Style:	Doom metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	December 01, 2010
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Threshold
02. Cayenne
03. Observer X
04. EOS
05. Combat Zen Speech
06. The Van Of Pleasant Living
07. Coach

Hailing from the land where Metal Storm was born we have Talbot, and their initial offering, EOS, an album defined by pounding drums, thundering bass, and crushing guitar riffs.

Wait. What?

Uh, scratch that last.

EOS is defined by pounding drums and thundering bass all right, but there is no guitar here. Nope. Nosiree Bob. We just have drums, bass, and some effects. (EOS: Eschewing Obligatory Six-String?) So when discussing drum and bass, two things come to mind - god awful "cars that go 'boom!'" thump thump music and the Sleep offshoot, Om. Talbot sound like neither.

"So what do they sound like", you ask?

I'll tell you. They sound like thundering doom. The duo sound like B.C. Green and the machine that was the backbone of early Godflesh's sound, in terms of power. Musically they crush, plod, groove, and plunder forth, incorporating some post-rock, doom, and sludge stuff and re-interpreting it with their stripped down approach.

The vocal approaches are also as wide in variety? almost chanted vocals, standard shouted vocals, and deep, booming growls reminiscent of, say, Esoteric back up the band's shifting approach.

It's really amazing to enjoy the wide variety of approaches, styles, moods, and, well, noise that can be created with drums and an instrument that 9 times out of 10 sits forgotten in the background of most metal bands. It is intense, and yet still manages to simultaneously suck the listener in and alienate them.

From the groove of "Cayenne" to the lulling, trance-inducing development of "Observer X" to the Godflesh-ian "Combat Zen Speech" to the suddenly up tempo pounding of closer "Coach", the band show off quite a range. And all these pieces are tied together with slow, grooving, doomy paced crushing passages? thus making the album both a bit out there as well as cohesive.

Cerebral at times, crushing at others, I found this a rather appealing album. One that will leave you thinking "cool!" as it runs you down and drags your carcass 50 yards up the road.