In case you haven’t been following, I just spent a little under a week in Portland. Most importantly, I spent two days outside of Portland, exploring mountain, forest, and ocean, a unique combo that the West Coast excels at. It’s also a climate which lends itself to stoner and doom just as much as the desert. Something about being surrounded by elements greater than yourself, not to mention tons of sap, leaf, and insect, just makes me reach instinctively for the sludgier end of the metal spectrum. Lo and behold, Blue Heron are here to supply me with just that, as they’ve kindly agreed to let me premiere “Swansong” from their upcoming release. Just hit play and we’ll chat after; the riffs that are about to crash upon you need no intro.
Sweet mama, that’s that good fuzz! “Swansong” might not be smashing through any genre barriers but it takes all of that energy and puts into the passionate pursuit of doom metal excellence. There’s desert a-plenty in there but, to my Oregon-calibrated ears at least, there’s more mulch, syrup, and hazy, leaf-dappled sun in there. I love not only the guitar tones on this but also how Blue Heron mobilize it, constantly churning more and more groove for you. There are also some tasty, if brief, solos in there and all the smoke-and-honey dripping vocals you could want.
“Swansong” comes to us off of Everything Fades, which comes out on Friday via the incomparable Blues Funeral Recordings, of which a member is also in Blue Heron. Alright, enough words. Head on over here to pre-order this beast and I’ll see you on the other side of the tree line. Or sand line. Just get there.
Eden Kupermintz
Published 3 hours ago