23 Treads - I Woke Up At Dawn [Zoharum - 2019]I Woke Up At Dawn sees the welcome return of 23 Treads- the Polish three-piece now relocated in New York City, who started as off angular neo folk- but have steadily warped/ shifting into other genres in a most surprising & creative ways. And here we basically get the projects 'Doom metal' album- but of course, with the band's normal distinctive twist/ takes on the genre. The album, as with the band's other releases, appears on the great polish experimental music/noise label Zoharum- the is CD presented in a fold-out cross-shaped digipak- which is moodily colored in black, white & silver. In all the album, by modern standards , is fairly short running coming in at thirty seven-minute mark- but really the three put some much mood, interesting ideas & oddness into the nine tracks that it always feels like it’s longer than it actually is-in a good way. We move from the lo-fi garage like early Black Sabbath meets darkly floral organ of "The Beast"- with lead singer Ingrid Dawn Swen wailing & reverbing around the riff craft. On to the warbling male vocals & gloomy thumbed bass of "Hidden Between The Spaces", with its great bleakly spacy synth washes. The very rough ‘n’ ready Electric Wizard vibe of "Exodus" with its great crude and bouncing riff- which switches between mid paced-to- crawling chugs. Or towards the end of the album we get the mighty, crushing, yet nightmarish marching "Atavistic"- with it’s throbbing bass toll, slashing ‘n’ slamming industrial percussion, and build dense sways of effects trails. Really where ever your drop-down on I woke Up At Dawn your going to get both brood, heaviness & experimental creativity. 23 Treads are really a band that are screaming out for much more attention then the presently get- as they manage to clever take, and mould genre elements to their own creative & distinctive fashion. And with I Woke Up At Dawn they’ve done it once again in damn compelling & at times unsettling manner- really it’s quite unlike any doom record I’ve heard before, and it’s all the better for it.
Roger Batty
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