Yeti - Yeti
Oh my! In the words of Yoda, if you're not afraid, "you will be. . .you will be." Even the Yeti himself might be scared of the music found on this album. I don't know about you, but I never expected this kind of dark, gloomy doom metal to come from sunny Florida. I guess you don't have to dwell in the land of perpetual winter and darkness to create some legitimately spooky music. I'll admit that I've yet to hear any kind of music that was truly scary, but this stuff definitely comes closer than anything thus far (at the same time, however, I do think they completely lost the effect and mood of the hidden track by not cutting it off before the lame music at the end). This opus of epic doom contains some great slow to mid-paced doom metal that ought to be a worthy addition for those into Paramaecium, My Dying Bride, and maybe even the more death influenced parts of Underoath (minus the speed). In fact, both the guitar and keyboard tones sound like those on the new Underoath album. The guitars are thick and brutal while the drums and bass fit in almost perfectly. For the most part, the vocals sound like a mixture of Feast Eternal and Groms, but they will occasionally add a more hardcore-like scream or black metal shriek. The variety of vocals actually works really well for them. There are lots of great keyboard and acoustic interludes that are typical of doom metal, and even the samples interspersed throughout the disc fit the overall mood well (recognize the one that was on Training For Utopia's "Plastic Soul Impalement?"). I would like to comment on the lyrics, but they're not included in the insert and I can't really decipher them. However, the intro does contain a spoken word narration that builds on the whole fantasy theme by telling of an evil king in the "northern realm" long ago who preyed on helpless peasants. The only problem is that the accent sounds a little too contrived. Given that this is not a major label release, there's just not much to complain about here. Yeti will definitely get plenty of spins in my stereo, and this is, by far, one of the better indie metal bands I've heard in a long time. Keep a watchful eye out for the Yeti. -- Review by Jason