I don't even remember how or when I heard the name Old Man Gloom, but I did. It must have been years ago now. And now I'm officially sad I never checked them out or bothered to read up about them!
Earlier this year I discovered Old Man Gloom features Aaron Turner of Isis, Nate Newton of Converge and Doomriders, Caleb Scofield of Cave In and Zozobra and a couple other guys from various bands. I was shocked I never knew that, since I basically just listed some of my all-time favorite bands.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hydra Head was having an insane sale that I couldn't pass up, and I snagged Old Man Gloom's most recent full-length album, 2004's Christmas.
Cover art for Old Man Gloom's 'Christmas'
I really didn't know what to expect from the group. I think they were labeled as "sludge metal" on Wikipedia, but that doesn't really tell you much.
Upon first listen I found the album format to be a little confusing. The album weaves in and out of a post-metal sludge metal groovy hardcore sound, and then turns on a dime into ambient or almost completely silent tracks.
At first I kind of though this method completely kills the flow of the album. Just when it starts to get good, it gets silent. Then once you grow accustomed to the silence, it gets loud again. But it's starting to grow on me with each listen. I've always been a huge fan of breaking up heavy albums with lighter tracks, as I've mentioned in many other posts. However, I'm still sticking to my original feeling that the ambient tracks are too long and too ambient. Easy listening is one thing, but this is a whole new ballgame.
But, when it gets heavy, it gets good. Really really good. Like some of the greatest songs I've ever heard. It definately sounds like the sum of its parts: the post-metal space of Isis, the dirtiness of Doomriders, and the hardcore of early Cave In. The combination just plain works, and now I can't stop listening to it.
Old Man Gloom's "The Volcano" -- easily the greatest
heavy songs I've heard in a long long time.
Based on my researchings, my next step in their discography should be 2001's Seminar III: Zozobra, which features the single twenty-seven minute track "Zozobra" (which is also presumably the source of inspiration for Scofield's other project, Zozobra). Out of all of Old Man Gloom's albums, Seminar III seems to get the highest amount of praise followed by Christmas.
According to an article published by Exclaim, Old Man Gloom are rumored to be working on their follow up to Christmas, which was released seven years ago. Kurt Ballou also Tweeted about working on an Old Man Gloom album, but then quickly retracted his statement. Even though I'm a newcomer to the band and I only know this one album, this glimmer of hope for new material by this group made me overly giddy. Especially since all of these members have become far far more talented in the last seven years. I know they'd release an instant classic if they were recording something.
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