renkls
Doom metal is probably my favorite subgenre of metal, but sometimes it can be too excessive or monotonous for me. Albums that tread into that territory I do not look upon very fondly, although I often give them a patient listen. Pombagira’s Iconoclast Dream is one such album that I find difficult to engage with. It’s dominantly doom metal, heavy, stoner style. I think an apt description of this album would be Pombagira’s take on Dopesmoker. One 42 minute track, minimal lyrics and quite repetitive doom lines.
While it’s not a bad album, I think it requires a lot of patience, and the heavy tone of the bass can be deadening after fifteen minutes into the album. Luckily, the band has the sensibility to shake things up in the second half, evolving the album into a post-rocky stoner jam, which for me was probably the best part. The album concludes with a long outro, segueing to a spoken word poem which is quite a fascinating ending. The overall atmosphere is murky and all-consuming. For an avid doom fan, you can’t go too wrong with this, but even then, it’s a long slog of a trip.