Mother Susurrus – Maahaavaa (2013)

Fully recorded using analog gear, today we have Finland’s Mother Susurrus and their debut full-length release “Maahaavaa”. Combining elements from bands like Neurosis, High of Fire, and more traditional Hard and Acid Rock influences, they masterfully crafted a sound that is quite hard to pin down, but is very interesting and unique sounding. This 48 minute release contains five solid tracks that command maximum aural attention.

True audiophiles greatly appreciate when things are recorded via analog gear, and this is very evident when you get those nice grainy effects and elements in the music that really make things pop and sound natural. The first example of said things is the crushing opener “Superposition”. Clocking in at around 10 minutes, this mammoth track shows the band’s Sludge/Doom power with some more direct Hard rock influences.

“Scopolamine” has that post-Metal edge greatly popularized by Neurosis and similar bands, but Mother Susurrus makes their own rules by adding twangy guitars and very powerful and trippy musical passages. The vocals are quite powerful, but they might be mixed a bit low since the fuzzy guitars seem to take priority over them throughout most of this release. The percussions are very ritualistic and quite engaging, keeping things fresh from a more hypnotic perspective.

The weird side of the band comes out with the quite odd “Anagnorisis”, but this song serves as the perfect momentum shifter to the best track of this release: “Ylösnousemus”. We love the build-up and the very creepy vocals on this song. The bass guitar and the drums are also quite good at creating a different and very well-spaced atmosphere.

Closing with another 15-minute monolithic track, the band nicely combines space and crushing Sludge/Post-Metal sections with more mellow passages. Overall, Mother Susurrus has done a great job in delivering killer tunes with a very warm and fuzzy sound that any fan of bands like Neurosis, etc. would instantly appreciate. For us, “Maahaavaa” was a truly powerful and refreshing experience.

Release: March 28th, 2013

Genre: Acid Rock / Sludge/ Doom Metal

Country: Finland