TAR POND from Switzerland were previously a rather unknown quantity to me and with the name I would probably have looked in the indie/punk department first, but I would have made a big mistake.
Nope, here on Petrol, the band's second album, tons of heavy doom metal pours out of the speakers, as powerful as it is melancholic, as minimalistic as it is atmospherically dense.
Petrol is quite a chunk at first, because the overlong songs take their time to develop. The riffs are viscous lava, the atmosphere is usually pretty sparse and clear melodies only emerge after repeated listens. However, the intensity is immense and exactly what you would expect from a classic doom record. The vocals, however, are more reminiscent of something from the alternative genre, perhaps most likely Alice In Chains, which gives the sound a somewhat more independent note.
If the sound of the guitar riffs makes me think of Stoner Rock, I'm going down the wrong track. The guitars are more reminiscent of a slightly rockier version of Celtic Frost played in Monotheist times, if you know what I mean. Perhaps, Electric Wizard also fits in at Witchcult Today times.
Switzerland - Celtic Frost, that brings us to the point. If you want to know what Martin Eric Ain, ex-bassist of Celtic Frost, was up to before his death, you should definitely listen to TAR POND. And that's not all the name dropping: Marky Edelmann, ex-drummer of Coroner, is now also on board.
Five songs in 38 minutes, quite varied by Doom Metal standards... The catchiest and least sluggish song is Blind. Something builds up to an atmospherically dissonant chunk and Dirt starts relatively rocking, but ends, like the whole record, quite sparse and gloomy. Petrol is without question not a positive record, but an intense one that is worth discovering. A highlight that I would not have expected. Listen to it!