For all the many different avenues that are gloriously available throughout the vast spectrum of all that metal music has to offer, it’s surprisingly the instrumental reaches that we don’t get enough material from often enough. It’s one of those things that I’ve always felt has been begging for further exploration with there being plenty of capacity across practically every major style of metal, yet it eludes me as to why we don’t see it more. Perhaps it’s just one of those things that can’t quite be explained, or is it there’s just not as much interest in that craft? Whatever the answer is, I can safely say that we need more of it. With its first creation, Methammer shows us how it’s done while wreathed in distorted fuzz and drowning in all-consuming darkness.

While I do wish that instrumental metal would find itself branching out more into different styles other than the typical doom approach, I cannot help but find myself pleased to see more instrumental doom out here. It’s a concept that just seems so magnificently obvious to me. The many different forms of doom lend greatly to a voiceless concept with there always some sort of riff, dirge of heaviness, or drawn-out rhythm that can be brought to life spectacularly without so much as uttering a single lyric even in a normal work of the genre. In its debut album of four tracks across a crushing 24-minute runtime, Methammer did not hold back in the slightest to make “Downfall” far more than fumbling in the dark hoping to strike gold. Rather, “Downfall” gains a rock-solid foothold very early on as its oppressive atmosphere mixes boldly with the crushing songwriting that Methammer delivers in spectacular fashion to make each minute of the work excruciating yet nonetheless satisfying for what it demands of the listener. The work can seem like it drags in select moments, but I implore you to keep with it and really envision the raw nature of the craft that Methammer embodies in practically every given moment of “Downfall”. Constantly dripping with more than a few sludge elements and offering not so much as a shred of light for the falsehood of salvation, Methammer creates a dominating piece that leaves everything to the imagination except the sensory deprivation that serves as the center for all that this record does as it moves against the listener.

All-in-all, I would be putting it mildly to say that what Methammer has summoned here is quite simplistic in nature but damn if this solo act doesn’t pull it off tremendously well. A surprisingly well thought out delivery of instrumental doom that takes into account the intensity, the production, the menace, and the atmosphere that can be utilized to make for an oppressive yet engaging listen, “Downfall” sets the stage for Methammer to show many precisely what can happen when instrumental metal is given the care and approach that it rightfully deserves.

LISTEN to Methammer on Bandcamp here.