Ed’s Review:

When I first visited Howl’s myspace site and found the band proudly sporting an endorsement for Chicago-based Emperor Cabinet amplifiers, I immediately asked myself “are these guys from Chicago?” Since all of your friends here at R/R are from Chicago, we usually get a first hand look at the extremely heavy yet sometimes questionable local hipster/celebrity male subculture that metal has become here, where the length of one’s beard can often be confused in drunken grandeur with the length of one’s self-proclaimed diabolical manhood. Anyway, turns out Howl is NOT from Chicago, but actually from Providence, RI – so I was immediately interested in what kind of metallic sludge this band had to offer without the media distractions of having their own premature Kuma’s Corner burger or having 20 simultaneous witty write-ups and name-drops in the Chicago Reader before anyone gets a chance to hear the actual music. And although Relapse is never a label to be cheap on the heaviness, I was a little iffy about the promo we received (64k mp3’s with a loud BEEP every 30 seconds throughout the ENTIRE ALBUM as a watermark… classy, fellas) but I gave the album a spin anyway. Hey, it’s a free promo right? And it’s METAL… good enough for me.

Turns out the low quality mp3’s and annoying beeps didn’t really matter all that much, because in the simplest terms possible, this album absolutely rips.

Howl have managed to find a near-perfect hybrid of the riffy, technical aspects of progressive heavyweights like Mastodon while keeping the pace at a slower, thicker sprawl than their speedy aforementioned peers, resulting in an aggressive and ultimately pummeling doom metal experience. What’s great about this album is the excellent songwriting combined with the consistency of quality songs from start to finish – two essential items that always make or break an album bearing this kind of intensity. Opener “Horns of Steel” is a juggernaut of a track, the slow building introduction giving way to a powerhouse of minor key riffage, directly throwing the listener into the wild, doomy ride this album has to offer. Things move in this path for a while, a brief dose of black metal riffs appearing during the bridge sections of “You Jackals Beware” that is completely nerve shattering (in a great way), eventually making it’s way to the excellent stand-out track “Jezebel” which conjures up imagery of both black dungeons and soaring cliffs – a very heavy, fairly complex and completely mesmerizing doom track that stands up with some of the best ever written, from Sabbath to Candlemass and beyond. The vocals tend to serve as more of an instrument as the album beats along, which is more than fitting considering the fine guitar work that rages throughout this listen. “Heavenless” moves more into prog territory, but with a cutting intensity and great fretwork both in rhythms and brief leads from guitarists Vincent Hausman and Andrea Black. In a similar manner to how Baroness has created a new flavor in slightly deep fried, yet killer hard rock guitar techniques, Howl is a guitarists’ band on a mission to bring the more evil, minor key range of doom metal into the volume game – this material is well-played and very dense, and rightfully so. “The Scorpions Last Sting” is another standout track, concluding with several minutes of bulldozer chug riffs mixed with psychedelic guitar overtones perfectly placed. The album concludes with the 10+ minute “The Day of Rest” which needs little description – just let me know if your stereo survives the damage.

I would highly recommend Howl to anyone who is fascinated by creative yet uncompromising doom-ridden guitar work – turned up to 11.

Ed’s Rating:

King says: “I wish we could have tuned down to B back in the 80’s… I probably could have ditched the make-up for a gig or three!”

Chris’ Review:

Man, I really thought I would get into this chug fest based on the album opener, but something happened and my interest faded as the tracks rolled by. Repeated listens of the album have me taking it down a notch on the patented R/R King scale each spin. What’s bothering me about Howl?

The overall thing is that there’s nothing here that sounds fresh or unique to me. There’s some cool moments, sure, like badass chugging riffs at some point in almost every song. But you know what, every high school band in my subdivision can crank out a badass chugging riff when they want to. What else does Howl got?

Well, they got this frenetic drummer that’s always playing big fills in small spaces and double bass, so that it sort of seems like the song is all intense and shit, but when you try to follow along, you find the song is actually pretty plain; the drummer’s just getting bored like you are. It’s hard to judge production on a low resolution review download, but it sure seems like there’s a whole lot of cymbal going on. At some points the guitars are just barely there. But golly, that crash cymbal sure comes through.

Secondly, each song is full of riffs, but they’re mostly not very interesting and just pasted together. It’s like a heavy metal jam band at some points (“Jezebel“, “You Jackals Beware“). Some riffs are downright played out (“Asherah“, the intro to “Jezebel“; how did this even make the album)? And I’m thinking I’ve heard the opening of “The Scorpion’s Last Sting” somewhere, too (free gift to whomever can tell us where).

The sound and style of Howl is nothing offensive, but it’s nothing that’s been missing from my life either. If more songs like “Heavenless” or “Horns of Steel” added interest and energy to this album, it might have been saved, but as an collection, this album doesn’t float.

Chris’ Rating:

King says: “This band would have a chance if they had a gimmick. Try face paint and devil worship.”

Editor’s note: Chris… I believe you’re referring to Earth Crisis’ “The Wrath of Sanity“. Now where’s my free gift?

Have A Listen:

Howl – Jezebel:

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