Eternal Return＜Violet/Silver/White Splatter Vinyl＞

The Richmond, Virginia-based doom metallers' fifth full-length effort, the behemoth Eternal Return delivers a nuanced and ethereal take on the style that invokes shoegaze, folk, and classic Seattle-era grunge as much as it does the lumbering sonic might of Electric Wizard and Sleep. This is music made for sleet-blasted pine forests and moonlit drives passing abandoned storefronts strewn with faded missing-persons posters. It's Windhand's second time around with famed grunge and alt-rock producer Jack Endino, and like its predecessor, 2015's Grief's Eternal Flower, it sees the band both expanding and crystallizing its sound. This time around, Dorthia Cottrell's vocals are pushed even more to the forefront, lending an air of authority that helps dampen the slow-burn sonic architecture of epics like "Eyeshine" and "Feather," both of which lurch past the ten-minute mark. While the overall pace adheres to the genre's predilection for torpidity, between Cottrell's otherworldly crooning and the band's tasteful melodic touches, there is a certain amount of grace attained, especially on standouts like "Halcyon," "Diablerie," and "Grey Garden." Bluesy, bold, and brooding, Windhand's well-honed sludge/doom aesthetic, which can be suffocating at times, is often ameliorated by underpinnings of classic rock, resulting in something that feels both familiar and fantastical. As fuzzed-out and cacophonous as things get, there is always a clear road established and, more than ever, Windhand sound like they are in complete control of the vehicle, even as the road behind them crumbles into the abyssal gaping maw of some Lovecraftian horror. ~ James Christopher Monger