Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough: Volume II

Bell Witch is a two-man doom metal band from Seattle, Washington who formed in 2010.  Aerial Ruin is one-man folk band from Portland, Oregon. 

I don’t know much about Aerial Ruin I’m a Bell Witch fan, however, I missed out on the first volume of Stygian Bough—sometimes, there is so much music out there that even a huge music nerd like me misses out.  I’ll have to go back and listen to it because Volume II is mesmerizing. 

Across four massive songs and just under an hour of runtime, “Stygian Bough: Volume II” is a monolith concoction of what happens with doom and folk merge into one.  Dark folk can feel doomy and times and, of course, doom isn’t a stranger to adding folk elements either.  But few collaborations show the results as honest, in depth, and engaging as this album.

With that being said, this is doom.  It is slow and plodding, with many changes but at a glacial pace.  So, I don’t pretend any illusions here:  if you don’t like doom, you absolutely will not like this.  Also, you suck for not liking doom. 

But if you’re cool beans like me, then this is certainly an album to get lost in—there is much exploration to be had among the album’s catacombs.  This is longing, pain, sorrow, and emotions on a level that feels very heavy and not only because it is a doom metal album.

And it can actually be quite melodic.  In fact, I’d say it is more melodic than truly heavy; this is one of those albums that sounds dense and crushing without actually taking such an obvious approach about it.  Considering it is four long songs, the flow from song to song is very well applied.  Not only that but the songs themselves never get boring—there is always something to discover, even after multiple listens.

While Bell Witch brings the doom, Aerial Ruin brings a lot of quiet, introspective moments that are just as loud as the metal portions–you don’t have to be heavy to be intense and that is a notion this album fully embraces.

The journey begins with “Waves Became the Sky.”  Erik Moggridge also provides guitar, something that Bell Witch doesn’t have by themselves.  The effect is immediate: slow moving, layered tapestries that build up like a dark, living world.  It’s bleak, sure, but it's also alive. The mournful guitars are a gut punch yet there isn’t anything else that would work in their place.  

Whereas “Waves…” is more atmospheric and stretches outward like a slow-moving storm, “King of the Wood,” begins more directly.  This one is dynamic, going from different shades of darkness while remaining amazingly consistent.  Jesse’s drums are particularly engaging.  It can’t be easy to provide such ear grabbing drumming with music this slow, but he is clearly a master at it.  Dylan’s bass provides a lot of weight during the clean vocals, ensuring that even in its lither moments, there is still the presence of the void–but his bass isn’t oppressive. Again, heavy without being heavy.  After a striking section of sweet, sweet doom riffs, the song grows quiet in the mid-section.  Like the unfurling of the morning, the song awakens with little details coming into play every second. 

“From Dominion," begins with wonderful acoustic and cleans.  This almost has a singer/songwriter feel to it and is a bit psychedelic.  It grows into a roar when the rest of the band comes in, a heaviness with true purpose.  I don’t usually follow the lyrics so I’m not really sure what is being spoken about, but something about this song is both epic and emotional at the same time.  

The final song, “The Told and the Leadened,” is the longest on the album, at just over 19 minutes.  The first half is heavy, broken apart yet held together by melodic passages but the drums provide a sense of urgency that is uncommon in the style. It all seems a bit menacing too in some places….I really like the mid-section, with the guitars and bass becoming one massive being and how it all leads up to a soaring guitar solo.

“Stygian Bough:  Vol 2,” is a monumental effort but successfully pairs doom with folk, in a dynamic way that is rich and memorable, without compromising the essence of either band’s sound. 

Rating: Excellent