Band:	Smote
Album:	A Grand Stream
Style:	Dark ambient, Drone, Psychedelic folk
Release date:	August 23, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. Sitting Stone Pt. 1
02. Sitting Stone Pt. 2
03. Coming Out Of A Hedge Backwards
04. Chantry
05. The Opinion Of The Lamb Pt. 1
06. The Opinion Of The Lamb Pt. 2



Having the word ‘grand’ in the title seems quite fitting for a 75-minute album, but while A Grand Stream is a long album, the form it takes is less one of grandeur, and more one of eerie spiritualism.

Smote is a British band formed and led by Daniel Foggin. It was only formed fairly recently, with its first recorded output being released in 2020, and yet they are already on course for their second Roadburn appearance next year, so they’ve found some strong early momentum. Smote very much feel like a Roadburn band, in that their music (or at least what I’ve heard of it on Genog and now A Grand Stream) has a heaviness that lurks on the fringes of metal, but owes plenty to other genres. That nebulous nature meant that not only was Genog featured in our non-metal article series, it also received a 2023 Metal Storm Awards nomination in the Ambient / Drone / Noise category. A Grand Stream serves as a solid continuation of that record, but brings some things to the table in its own right.

Stylistically, the sound of Genog could be compacted down to ‘psychedelic drone folk’, a summary that is arguably applicable to later Om and also Wyatt E., both bands that Smote could reasonably be compared with (Foggin also names the likes of Anna Von Hausswolff and Øxn as influences). The folk music instrumentation and motifs is joined by conceptual inspiration derived from folklore and rural life, with A Grand Stream particularly inspired by Foggin and drummer Rob Law’s experiences after relocating to work in a farmhouse on the English/Scottish border. This kinship with nature and the countryside may have influenced Foggin’s DIY approach to the album’s recording and production, which shapes the vibe of this colossal record.

The mixture of folk and drone is apparent from the first track on A Grand Stream, “Sitting Stone, Pt. 1”, which opens with monotonous violin and other strings, the increasing layering of which really feeds the album’s psychedelic vibe. Subsequent introduction of steady, reverberating percussion, jangling acoustic strums (I can’t find a list of the credited instruments to know exactly what’s being used here) and muted spoken word further rams home the pagan neofolk feel of the song, but there’s a reason it’s being reviewed on Metal Storm, and the gradually escalating guitar distortion adds a mean rumble beneath everything else. Compared to, say, Sunn O))), the heaviness here doesn’t feel fully recognizable as drone metal, but there is a real thickness to it that at the very least takes it in that direction.

Considering the style, it should not be surprising to learn that each song here is fairly gradual in its progression, often sustaining a single core idea or pattern for minutes on end, with only the composition of the instrumental arrangement reflecting the lapsing of time. “Sitting Stone, Pt. 1” is pretty much entirely comprised of a single repeating rhythm and motif; “Sitting Stone, Pt. 2” varies a bit more, partly due to how it begins with minutes of vacant ambient noise. The more fully arranged second half of the track sees a flute make a fairly delicate entrance, meandering around the acoustic musical foundation, but the closing stages of the song turn slightly claustrophobic as thick distortion and electric guitar leads combine with said flute.

The style exhibited across this opening double-header is largely sustained for the rest of the album, and with such an extensive runtime, it’s fair to say that this is probably not an album for really focused listening (the consumption of mind-altering substances notwithstanding), but the sheer enchanting potency of the record’s atmosphere elevates it far above typical background listening fare. That said, it’s very much going to be a case that you either dig the vibe immediately or can safely move on to seek out more suitable listening for your tastes; “Coming Out Of A Hedge Backwards”, which maintains a ‘steady drums and relentless sustained violin’ as the central focus almost entirely throughout, is a good litmus test of whether you’re able to meet this album on its level.

There are some variations in approach across the full expanse of A Grand Stream, however. “Chantry” abandons percussion altogether, fully committing to the band’s drone aspirations, but instead of guitars, bagpipes serve as Foggin’s weapon of choice here, and as offputting as the idea of bagpipe drone might sound, there’s something both meditative and quite triumphant about the track’s sonic palette. A more startling shake-up occurs across the enormous combine 30-minute runtime of two-part closer “The Opinion Of The Lamb”, which is driven in something of a psych rock direction by the increasingly lively percussion, and the cacophonic nature of the accompanying instrumentation, whether it be flute or somewhat frenetic distorted guitar; the infrequent and understated spoken word that pops up in both songs lends a further eeriness to proceedings.

The sheer extent of A Grand Stream’s scope, combined with its relative intransience, does make listening to it quite an imposing proposition, and truth be told, I do perhaps have a slight preference for the more restrained Genog. Nevertheless, the album underlines Smote’s status as one of the more compelling acts currently around in the realm of drone music, particularly when approached from a metal listening background.