I spotted this album at bandcamp's "doom" tag (sorted by newness: a commonly opened tab on my browser) while shuffling through the dirt and mud of single track uploads, mislabeled pop/rock bands and the reocurring undecipherable blob of doom bands that apparently have yet to understand that bieng "experimental" doesn't excuse you from pulling shit music.
Toner Low have been around, as it seems. Were I a prouder man and I would be excusing my language away from admitting that I had never heard of them before - though in truth I might actually have had, but even then the hypothetical dark corner of my memory where I hypothetically flung it to die is now all but barred with layers of unsorted crap. I'm also not a proud man; here at The Brainlesser, low is the new high.
The band has been around since 1998 regardless, and have three full-length albums out, of which I heard this particular share, the last of them having been out last year - nope, hadn't a clue. Toner Low's III has been postponed for a proper listen somewhen down the upcoming week and I haven't heard their debut either because, let's face it:
Starting off as a more or less traditional stoner rock-outfit, over the
years they evolved into the heaviest band of the lowlands.
...is not the best lure to grab my attention towards their earlier work. I will get around to it though, don't get me wrong, but I thought I might as well bring out II and face III later on.
The good thing about II is that it is pretty much your well-rounded, heavy and slow stoner doom. In many ways it reminds me of Ufomammut, namely the landscape painting by several degrees of low-pitched distortion, but it is different in that it's more minimalistic, less melodic and also less apparent in their design and intention. Where Ufomammut haunt you with the ever present repetition of a single melody that rounds the whole album, or concert even, structure in a neat bundle, Toner Low's II is more unpredictable and far much steeper in its turns, ups and downs. Which is strange because, all in all, it's not very innovative doom - it's good, but nothing unheard of, really.
All the while, pointing some criticism at II, I can't but feel that its very steep and turning nature makes for some bits of buzzkill moments, most evident in the beginning of the song Three, and through it on too, if I'm perfectly honest. There's an essence of being led to this sort of fuzzy stoner doom that is for me the most enjoyable emotion that I can draw from it and Toner Low seem to be just short of hitting that sweet trance-like spot just because of a couple of buzzkill moments. Tempo grows into nothing, suddenly effects are added in for no good reason, rythm and cadency promptly halted halfway through for a change in song structure.
It's almost as if they had a whole bunch of great music ideas and just kinda threw them in. This is not very often, mind you, the examples being few and not very imposing. Most of the time it works just fine, it is after all a very solid album, but sometimes there's a disruption in the pattern that just kinda feels forced and unnecessary.
I'll be checking III, curious if they ironed out these minor pickings. Meanwhile, judge the piece for yourself.
