SardoniS

When the Belgium-based instrumental metal duo SardoniS debuted with its eponymous EP, it garnered comparisons to Om (the doom-metal duo of Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius from the band Sleep). Much like Om, SardoniS excels at gradually building layers of gigantic sonic textures and slowly rubbing them against each other. The opening cut, “Nero D'avola,” is a great example of this: guitarist Roel Paulussen (also of Solenoid) and drummer Jelle Stevens take their time crafting a behemoth sound before pushing against each other’s grains with the lumbering movements of shifting tectonic plates. But unlike contemporaries Om, Boris, or Sunn O))), SardoniS doesn't take more than 10 minutes to get from point A to point B. “Skullcrusher A.D.” flirts with a very similar style of fantasy sludge that evokes images of bellbottomed titans plugging into an endless wall of Marshall and Orange amps, but it's only three minutes long. SardoniS specializes in making monolithic doom metal for those with short attention spans. At two minutes and 13 seconds, the hard-driving “Mob” reveals punk roots.