Giant - Beneath The Mountains

 

Giant is a doom metal band from Australia, who formed in 2017.  Their latest album, “Beneath The Mountains,” is their second full-length album.

Giant’s sound has obvious stoner influences, especially in the bass where the fuzz flows like a river of blood.  The leads are a bit psychedelic too, which adds a very cool flavor to the songs. With that being said, “Beneath The Mountains,” is far heavier than most stoner doom I’ve heard (and therein lies the appeal for me).  I really, really like the vocals—death growls and screams, which make this stand out amongst the seemingly endless parade of stoner doom. 

But like with any good doom album, this one is all about the power of the might riff.  Riffs, riffs, and more riffs!  Between the guitars’ crushing tone and the powerful fuzz of the bass, this album is heavy in a very special and intense way.

The production certainly helps with this:  the album has that hazy stoner feels mixed with the grit of more extreme flavors all the while without sounding like it was recorded in a porta potty.  Simply put, the album’s production/mix allows the band to send out their crushing message like nonstop waves of sonic purity.

The album opens with the title track, which is always a bold statement, but the band backs it up and then some.   That opening bassline is smooth yet massive, the perfect intro to let the riffs arrive—and then sink down beneath these mountains.  The lead guitar compliments it all, pushing the flow every forward.  The middle passage is a beatdown, especially with the way the drums accent the riffs.

“Echoes Eternal,” keeps the metal ball rolling with a cascade of drums that reign down.  The growls bring their own epic pain, and I felt it when ‘everlasting sorrow’ growls out like an evil echo through some forgotten cavern.  After the 4-minute mark, the stoner elements ring out loud and true with a steady flow that builds up to a roar, earth moving riffs ripping up my ear drums.

“Lord Misery,” is one of my favorites on the album—I can’t decide what is heavier, the bass or the guitars.  Why not both?   The half second long breaks between the riffs make each wave devastating…unrelenting and worthy of the doom mantle.  The groove is kicked up 30 notches for the halfway mark and from here things just never let up.  Good. 

As the name might suggest, “Gods of Violence,” is a burner of a track.  The blaze starts early and the flames only rise across its nearly 9-minute runtime.  There is a brief respite around the 4:20 mark where a more laid-back approach, even psychedelic to a degree, introduces itself among the ruins.  It is a nice addition and makes everything after sound even more potent.

The final song is “The Fated Path,” and is an earthquake inducing example of everything the album has to offer.  The riffs are dug up from the earth themselves, a hefty mass whose true weight can never be measured.  The solo is pretty clever, and I like how it signals a transition to a more traditional stoner approach—-how can you not enjoy those basslines?

All in all, Giant’s “Beneath The Mountains,” is a great early year surprise for 2026.  If you think stoner doom isn’t quite intense enough, but death/doom isn’t your thing, this album balances the styles well. 

Rating: Excellent