Soma shows all the signs of an attempted slow metal classic: On their second album and first for Relapse, Richmond, Va., quintet Windhand coughs up three low-tempo burners, follows them with a foreboding acoustic creak, and aims to end with its longest and strongest-- a 14-minute rumbling insurgency called “Cassock” and the 31-minute astro fade “Boleskin”. The record spotlights every asset of the band, too. The dual guitars are enormous, with the tube-amp tones delivering the riffs in massive waves and presenting the solos less as interruptions and more as big, breaking-news events. The rhythm section is relentless; swollen bass pushes between every deep groove, underlined and emphasized by ubiquitous cymbal splatter. And the voice of Dorthia Cottrell-- Windhand’s lugubrious and bewitching frontwoman-- hangs above it all, her dark-minded tunes settling over the monolithic music like a dense, mountainous fog. Her haunting turn as a solo singer-songwriter serves as the record’s surprising centerpiece. It’s a quiet coup within an otherwise very loud and insistent marathon.
While Windhand understand the sound and the structure of their liminal stoner rock and doom metal, the actual songs on Soma fall short of their forebears. Of these six tracks, only “Woodbine” offers a truly compelling hook, with Cottrell singing a loving if laughable ode to Satan-- “Come on, Satan, surround me”-- with the hidden verve of a pop singer. The band traces her motion perfectly, strengthening the thread of melody rather than swallowing it. Oftentimes, though, Windhand treat the songs like kids too excited to have a new coloring book, their heavy hands drawing so far outside the lines that the shapes themselves become obfuscated. During “Orchard”, for instance, Cottrell moves in interesting dynamic arches, howling her lines only to slink suddenly behind them. But Asechiah Bogdan and Garrett Morris crowd her out, filling so much of the space with a rote weedian riff that she’s barely there at all. The same applies to “Cassock”, where her two short verses seem almost like add-ons for a piece simply meant as a showcase for Windhand’s tempo range--mid-tempo to something slightly faster to something slightly slower to something a bit faster still to the silent end.
If that sounds tedious, it can be. That’s another problem with Soma. Windhand consistently take their time to do very little, a flaw epitomized by the relatively punch-less one-two combination of “Cassock” and “Boleskin”. The latter builds from an acoustic intro into a riff that’s, once again, very plain. There’s one great, squealing solo and another good one, but Windhand mostly plod along, restating their case until the tune becomes more nuisance than mantra. Even on shorter numbers, that sense of fatigue reoccurs because Cottrell's effects-laden voice and hooks are pushed so far afield. The band’s self-titled 2011 debut didn’t feature an acoustic track from Cottrell because it didn’t need it. Well-paced and less burdened by its own seismic sounds, that five-song record felt urgent and varied, giving its guitar leads more to do than circle back and forth. “Heap Wolves” was a quick dose of Sabbath-baiting perfection, while the 11-minute “Summon the Moon” took care to anchor its length to an indelible chorus. But Soma feels impregnably monotonous. When Cottrell’s multi-tracked coo arrives without distraction at the start of “Evergreen”, the break feels more like a necessary respite than an interesting diversion. You might find yourself wishing she’d just keep singing.
Earlier this month, a Spin interview with Morris opened with this proclamation: “I don’t want to get pigeonholed as a ‘doom’ band.” On Soma, Windhand actively fight against that identity but lose, the collection's songs turning into stylistic slogs even as the band ostensibly works to avoid that end. Following their two-year-old debut, their deal with Relapse, and their colossal split with fellow Richmond heavies Cough, Windhand were poised as one of the year’s potential metal breakthroughs. But Soma sits still, paralyzed by the weight of a sound that’s too big for this promising band to manage, at least for now.
