Denver, Colorado has garnered a bit of a bad reputation on the new metal scene (and by bad, of course, I mean, really good). On their debut, Ashen Blood, Green Druid does nothing to sully that trend, delivering a record full of huge riffs and doomed vocals.
Adjectives used to characterize doom metal are a dime a dozen. They rarely detract from the record, but even more rarely do they add anything to the listening experience. Crushing. Brutal. You’ve read all of them. Each of these can describe almost any album in the genre. On researching Green Druid, I saw the term, “isolationist” and immediately gravitated to that as a lens through which I could view, Ashen Blood seven tracks and seventy-five minutes of moody, doom metal that evoked a peculiar solitude.
Green Druid tracks are predominantly built on a solid foundation of relatively clean metal guitars and vocals barked and wailed, like a lost animal performed them. The opener, “Pale Blood Sky” is quintessential, centered on a churning tempo, short on ambience but deeply satisfying. Moodier and darker, “Dead Tree” churns up the charnel ash, layering in a few labyrinthine tones and psych-metal influences. Therein lies one of Ashen Blood‘s strongest aspects, how Green Druid borrows complimentary elements rather than cherry picks. On the album’s longest track, “Cursed Blood” the band starts the first nine minutes with a spaced out, astral doom tone only to shift over into some bloody thrash guitars, a la Kirk Hammett. My favorite track is the grimy nugget, “Rebirth” which is surprisingly expansive for less than nine minutes, capturing a filthy, gloaming sensibility under the long jam and head-banging solos. Doom metal riffs are oft described as crushing, which is apt, but what falls under the hammer’s weight? Green Druid feels like they’re hell bent on crushing hope, the ties of companionship, the rosy hand-in-hand connection to fellow man. Ashen Blood ends on the short, atmospheric, “Nightfall” with dark, ambient tones laid beneath monstrous screeches and what sounds like a metal blade.
Taking a bigger view of the doom metal scene as a global phenomenon, Green Druid sets itself apart with a fierce new act to reckon with. Ashen Blood is a woeful statement of purpose, a cryptic plea for help and a record that rewards over and over again.
