BRETUS "Aion Tetra"




BRETUS 

“Aion Tetra”

Italy has always had a pretty dark music scene, going all the way back to the “horror prog” bands of the early 70’s like ANTONINUS REX and BLACK HOLE. That’s evolved into an underrated doom scene, of which BRETUS is one of the better examples. “Aion Tetra” is a good record if you’re looking for pure classic doom with roots in SABBATH, PENTAGRAM, PAGAN ALTAR and the like.

Their approach is pretty simple. Basic gloomy riffs that plod and lumber, occasionally picking up speed to a lusty chug but no further. On top of this foundation, we layer in some clean but eerie vocals and atmospheric touches from synth and acoustic guitar.  The guitar sound here is not crushing in the sense of ELECTRIC WIZARD or many sludge bands, but can better be described as “oppressive”.

It’s a winning formula. I tend to like the earliest tracks; “The Third Mystic Eye”, “Priests of Chaos” and “Prisoner of the Night” are thundering riffers with just the right touch of mystery. I don’t know the vocalist’s name, but he is excellent for this type of music, reminding me of PENTAGRAM’s Bobby Liebling a bit. The second half of the album becomes a bit more hazy and wandering, as tracks such as “Deep Space Voodoo” and “City of Frost” demonstrate. These cuts are perfectly serviceable, but I prefer the more rocking tunes.

There’s something nice and homey about BRETUS’ natural approach to doom that elevates it above more hyped stuff like MONOLORD. Get your doom-sniffing hunting hounds and go looking for this!

ORDO MCM

BRETUS

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