The weird and the wonderful will always have their own time in the limelight, however limited it may be. Not often enough do these bands get the spotlight, though, with those that do manage to rise up bringing out loads of people who are constantly saying they’re looking for something different, but never once seeking it out or going beyond what it deemed as “acceptable” by much of the residual rabble. In the world of doom metal, particularly, we could always use more weird. It’s one of the styles of metal that has always been begging for a treatment that takes the sound into the realms of the weird and spiritful, and it’s with bands like Action Camp that we’re slowly able to see that brought forth little by little.

All on its own, you really don’t need anything from outside the world of doom metal in order to make it weird in the right hands, but it does seem to be the case that most tend to blend it with another or several styles in order to create something that no one else can quite put a finger on with that certainly being the case here yet again. Opting a fusion of doom elements with more than a few cues from the punk realms to make for a particularly odd and flavorful concoction that quickly raises the eyebrow in undeniable interest, the ten tracks of “Cusp” are nothing if not intriguing. No two tracks are anywhere near the same in the entirety of this creation as not only did Action Camp seek to make for a heavier iteration of what they’ve done before, but it’s without breaking a sweat that they’ve managed to craft an experience that I doubt we could find elsewhere even if we were to sift through well over a hundred bands many times over. Dealing with the potential and fright that’s to be had within the very act of change, “Cusp” wastes no time in constantly keeping the listener guessing as to what precisely will come next so that every successive minute is an adventure that we seldom find elsewhere with Action Camp doing nothing short of a bang-up job as delivering material that’s as captivating as it is unique to them and only them.

What I can only liken to if Messa decided to travel down a different avenue of weird, this is an adventure that few could ever hope to even get close to with more than enough freedom to satisfy even the most free-spirited of those who are curious what’s still capable out there in the underground, Action Camp may not be the name that many would assume to associate with excellence in such a form, but I implore you to let this album convince you otherwise. There’s true frenetic and unbridled energy within “Cusp” that demands to be heard for all that it is, and I can only imagine this is but the first of this band showing us what they’re truly able to tap into.

LISTEN to “Cusp” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Action Camp on Facebook here.