Botanist - III: Doom In Bloom

A few months back, a friend asked me if I had heard of Botanist to which I had not. He then went on to describe it as this interesting black metal project where the main instrument in use was the hammered dulcimer. He then went on to say it was interesting, but not really anything special. Challenging at best. I would check out songs from the first album 'I: The Suicide Tree/ II: A Rose From The Dead', to which, although interesting, didn't really win me over either. Quick noisy songs with the gargling vocals I didn't really like. And I pretty much left it at that. A couple of weeks later, I came across 'III: Doom In Bloom'. Well...

This is much more interesting and so much better. I showed this to the same friend who told me about Botanist and he has been won over too. Thanks to much longer songs, slower tempos and even a change in 'style', now I have become captivated. This time, Botanist has presented songs that take the hammered dulcimer beyond black metal and into more post like territories. The soundtrack to the end of the world brought forth by a floral apocalypse. And here we are worrying about nuclear weapons..

The sorrow, the bleakness, the sense of evilness spreads across these songs like vines growing from the soil and slowly wrapping themselves around homes, along roads, even the people wandering around. Nothing here is really heavy here though. It is more 'calming' in a way. Except those nodding melodies have a weird spook to them. The way the notes from the hammered dulcimer can vary in feel, sorrowfully weaving along in 'Quoth Azalea, the Demon (Rhododendoom II)', to eerily plodding off in 'Ganoderma Lucidum', and chiming in and out with the marching pace of the drums in 'Vriesea', it all comes off quite unique and feels organic.

The vocals can be a little uneasy at times. But in a good way. Between the cold whispers and the harsh screams, but also that weird gargle like sound, but I am taking a different mindset to them this time around. It is as if the voice represents those that are forced to scream in agony or gargle their own blood as they are being strangled by the vines that are wrapping themselves around those wandering the bleak fields, slowly crushing their bones.

Endless sounds of the crashing cymbals are like spores shooting into the sky and releasing a poisonous mist with a scent so strong that when it reaches each person and is inhaled, it gets inside their bodies and slowly eats away at their internal organs. The thudding beats in 'Panax' is each body falling to the ground one by one and each warped note is the final dazing moment in each ones mind as they hit the ground. A dark and haunting finale.

I wont go into too much detail with 'Allies', the bonus disc with this album but that is also very interesting. The disc features songs by other artists (friends of Botanist) using the drum recordings of previous Botanist songs and made into their own unique works. The themes also have to be based around plants. A good mix of sludge, doom, and black metal like presentations. Really awesome stuff.

Overall, from the seeds of black metal, another interesting and unique artist has been unearthed. Botanist has taken some time to grow on me and it will continue to do so. Thanks to 'III: Doom In Bloom', this is the moment where Botanist has bloomed for me and I am sure in time, many more interesting works will be planted by him.

Ikil