No matter how delicious the blending of sludge and doom metal can be in even the best of circumstances, it’s not hard to see that many tend to walk roughly the same line when combining the two styles with there always an opportunity for riffage yet few manage to really capitalize on what all can be done with the style in even just a single song not to mention an entire album. It can be the case in more than a few instances that the material can feel a tad stale and in need of some organic energy that can really capture the attention and constantly keep the listener guessing as to what’s going to happen next. Despite having more than enough room for improvement moving forward, Azken Auzi’s eponymous debut succeeds where many stumble in those areas with their performance.

Right out of the gate, you can feel the very passion that’s gone into this record with it really feeling as though most everything fell right into place for these musicians with it feeling like they’ve been delivering this particular brand of metal for years now. The people behind Azken Auzi are far from strangers to metal with past experience in their own bands, but it’s in their first piece together as Azken Auzi that I’m left wondering about the potential that we have on hand here given what has already been accomplished in these six unyielding tracks. An interesting balancing of what has always made this sound interesting, Azken Auzi never once lets the elements of different styles cease at just doom or sludge with there being plenty of other elements from the metal spectrum with black metal influences able to be found scattered throughout this performance with more than a few atmospheric elements really enabling the record to have a grand sense of scale and tremendous contrast that doesn’t just make it interesting even in its smallest moments, but engaging to the very fullest. Quickly, Azken Auzi sets itself apart as a multi-dimensional act of sludge and doom that many try to bring to life in their own albums, but it’s somehow on their very first go as a cohesive unit that this band accomplishes a respectable feat that has a lot more to offer than one might expect even as this debut leaves plenty of room for improvement to really let Azken Auzi show us what it’s made of.

This is one of those styles that will always have a strong and dense following given how successful it can be in even inexperienced hands as it has so much excellence hold within its borders at any given time with bands like Azken Auzi a sight that I don’t think we’ll ever tire of discovering. All that’s been brought forth here is made of what we can only ever ask for out of a debut with real promise, and it should go without saying Azken Auzi delivers on that promise at every possible turn without so much as breaking a sweat.

LISTEN to “Azken Auzi” on Bandcamp here.

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