Band:	Moab
Album:	Billow
Style:	Psychedelic doom metal, Hard rock
Release date:	June 16, 2014
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. Said It Would
02. I Concede
03. Whittled Away
04. No Soul
05. Burn Media
06. Nothing Escapes
07. Made To Wait
08. Under All
09. The Softest Bait

Billow is a peculiar undulation. Like a sprightly psychedelic will-o'-the-wisp it entices those on the watch for regular doom in a direction well off the beaten path, all to experience the short duration of unexpectedly infiltrative riff scuff. Strangely jovial things begin to take shape in the haze, and Moab happily loom over doom with an eagerness to mix an eccentric concoction.

Moab produce an interestingly unique sound on their sophomore for an outfit fitting into a Black Sabbath influenced bluesy ilk, and here assimilating the rich rhythmic tendencies of Mastodon as well as the stoner one-two punch of Baroness and High On Fire; their briskly stoner tempered doom metal is rock hardened and infectiously up-tempo, as well as possessive of a delectably well finished guitar tone which should readily sate the appetite of Pallbearer fans. Much of the band's psychedelic qualities receive a well established vocal emphasis in Andrew Giacumakis' performance, whose distinctive delivery breezes hazily in and over the busyness of the instrumentation. In tracks such as "I Concede" his voice eerily floats atop the mix, before settling back amongst the crashing cymbals like a stoner spectre.

Within a well produced and rounded record, the nine tracks here have a novelty to them that just breach all the rules of the sub-genre it would supposedly be complacent in, if the style weren't so upbeat, explorative in rock and playfully psychedelic. A husk of desert rock and stoner melodiousness rolls the proceedings onward, though not without the heavy rendering of doom riffs to land things in metal territories. It's like tumbleweed with a continually interjected weight of rhythmic lead; with each aired jump of stoner melody and encasing of percussion, up goes the husk, yet the gravity of doom always brings it back down to strike the ground, and earthen riffs resound.

I'm a poet, and I didn't know it.

Roses are red, violets are blue, and Billow is some sort of browny dirt colour? Ok, yeah, scratch that, I'm no poet?

Ah but Billow blossoms! No doubt about that folks, the kind of lively record that grows in your ears like a welcomed weed in the desert. Ultimately all it needs is more of a solidified basis in the low-end, as the approach bears a nice contrast of light to heavy doom, with a preference here for the former with the centralised rhythms of a stoner rock record largely determining the delivery. Further founding the sound in a heavier and slower doom basis, as was present on the debut record Ab Ovo, would allow for a broader stylistic scope within the context of a singular record between the stoner briskness and cuts of a reduced pace, such as evidenced in the desert dwelling "Nothing Escapes." An extension of track duration would also grant a more formative context for the psychedelic components, which could be enhanced and fleshed out more fully and explored in more depth than what is ably demonstrated in this effort. As it stands, it's somewhat insubstantial as a whole, and would surely benefit from some more meatiness to the track list. In other words, a combination of the strengths demonstrated on the two quite different approaches taken on this album and the much more clearly doom focused debut would make for an intriguing combination.

Moab's distinctive jump of sound from debut to sophomore, and the resulting varied sound on the quickened Billow more than warrants attention, as it breezes by with flowing song writing and leaves heavy indentations and a lasting impression.

Listen, there it goes!