Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Relic is pretty much just a back-to-forward bang your head album, and fans of stoner rock are never short on appetite for no bullshit, meat and potatoes rock & roll

Reviews

Quick Review: FORMING THE VOID Relic

No review found! Insert a valid review ID.

Often associated most closely with sludge metal, the state of Louisiana is not without its share of straight up stoner bands either, though most of them are non-household names like Vermilion Whiskey, Boudain and the short-lived Fall from Grace, which featured former Exhorder guitarist Jay Ceravolo. Lafayette quartet Forming the Void stake their claim as the pre-eminent stoner / doom band from the state with their second effort, Relic, a sterling collection of hook-laden riffs and clean vocals out of the Baroness Sword school.

Lengthy tunes with lots of catchy riffs and basic, straightforward songwriting are the order of the day here: songs like "Relic" and "Endless Road" ooze with a breezy, effortless classic rock feel, updated of course with de rigueur fuzzball guitars. There is little-to-no variation in tempo or approach, but with a mere seven tracks (plus a surprisingly effective update on Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir") the same-ness of the material doesn't have time to wear itself out on you. Relic is pretty much just a back-to-forward bang your head album, and fans of stoner rock are never short on appetite for no bullshit, meat and potatoes rock & roll… Forming the Void are more crowd-pleasers than innovators. Relic won't make you forget The Sword exist, but they may make you pine for a time when the latter just, y'know, cut the shit.

Score: 8/10

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXxX-j0a8bM[/youtube]

Show Comments / Reactions

You May Also Like

New Music

You know that feeling you get when you hear an album and it just has it? You're hooked from the first notes and nothing can break...

Live Footage

Check out Max Volume Silence, video by Frank Huang.

Editorials

A simple guide for the growing band!

Full Album Stream

Lousiana's Forming the Void is one of stoner metal's best-kept secrets. Last year's Relic was a potent blend of sludge, stoner and prog, accentuated by phenomenal songwriting...