Conan – Violence Dimension | Album Review

Sacrifice the ability to perceive higher thoughts, embrace overwhelming defeat, experience the violence dimension.

Doom is a wide and wonderful subgenre of rock and metal. From its early days, rooted in the proto-metal and psychedelic rock scene, it has spawned into many musical entities which range from the more traditional doom stylings of Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Candlemass and Trouble to the colossally heavy stoner doom titans Electric Wizard and Sleep to the more melodic and expressive stylings of Anathema and My Dying Bride and then the colossally heavy funeral doom stylings of heavyweights Ahab and Esoteric. Of course, all of this would not be possible without the undisputed godfathers; Black Sabbath, whose eponymous song from their eponymous first album laid out the blueprints for the sound. 

With a heavy and thicker sound, achieved through the use of gratuitous distortion and fuzz, huge amounts of reverb and tunings which go lower than the minimum wage or a politicians morals and standards when the chance to make money is in the air, doom metal is an uncompromising force and the three-piece Conan, founded in the early stages of the 2000’s in Liverpool have risen to the forefront of the sound and styling in the modern era of this subgenre which is almost as old as metal itself. 

Given the description ‘Caveman Battle Doom’, Conan’s slow tempo onslaught of crushingly heavy riffs thick with sludge metal and stoner metal has remained consistent over their existence and their live performances are nothing short of intense when it comes to the wall of sound smashing into your face like a blunt object whose only purpose is to turn your head into paste. Having caught the three piece numerous times over the years, from a small and intimate venue in Liverpool when they supported American instrumental doom heavyweights Bongripper to them performing at festivals like Bloodstock, their quality has been consistent and the overwhelming nature of their music is welcomed as it rattled my very existence, making bones shake and my chest pound with every chord and note. 

So when the opening, sludge driven droning of ‘Foeman’s Flesh’ gets the bands 6th studio full-length release underway, the ‘lizard brain’ seemingly takes over, alerting the listener that danger is near. The physiological and psychological changes that happen when this core part of the brain kicks in (a surge in activity and a suspension of higher thinking as the body releases stress hormones and preps it to respond.) and as it cranks up the intensity, you realise that you’re left as a stuttering mess, rendered incapable of higher thoughts and simply reduced to your base instincts. In this case, your base instinct is to surrender to the compulsion to headbang. 

The thundering drums, tightly coiled and harsh guitar and booming bass relentlessly pound away like a sledgehammer on stone, or like a Neanderthal smashing its club over the skull of another Neanderthal. Sharp stabs of feedback and dissonance along with some ominous sustained melodic sections can be found in the track, but the primal screams of the vocals in combination with the base components of lumbering riff and rhythm is where the opening track shines. 

‘Desolation Hexx’ keeps up the onslaught, but it has a bit more to it than the overwhelmingly heavy sound. Slightly more animated in terms of its tempo, there is more movement in the riffs with a shifting feel punctuated by angular sounding harmonics and huge cymbal crashes. ‘Total Bicep’ which follows on spawns from some harsh static and feedback buzzing with huge rolling drum fills before going into a chord progression which ascends before it crashes down with tremendous force. From here, as it slips into the verse it speeds up significantly, adopting a sense of urgency which catches you off guard. This faster pace when combined with the harsh vocal yelling and more animated drumming makes this one of the more energetic displays from Conan and there are some fantastic grooves to be found in this relentless musical attack. There’s also a sickeningly intense breakdown section towards the final third of the track with wah-soaked dissonance and howling feedback which just adds to the intensity of it all. 

Title track ‘Violence Dimension’ is up next and it marks the halfway point of the album. With its slow and seemingly calm intro; a lone guitar which is soon accompanied by gentle drums, it begins to build in momentum before turning into an all out, uncompromising instrumental assault which is both haunting and terrifying. The sheer intensity and weight of the colossal chords pounds away but at the same time it has a hypnotic quality to it, drawing you in and letting you become one with the pounding. The rich effect-laden section at the halfway point lets the haunting and beautiful qualities of the song rise to the surface, like a moment of hope before it is snatched away, dragged under once again by the heavy currents coursing through the track. It is one hell of a track and a fantastic display of crushingly heavy compositional work. 

‘Frozen Edges Of The Wound’ starts the second half of the album off and it’s a more raw and aggressive offering. Reeking more of the sludge sounds Eyehategod and Corrosion of Conformity would unleash whilst packing plenty of low groove, it is a powerful track to pull you back from the tile track before it. The pounding groove accented by the booming bass pulls no punches and it has some subtle Iommi-inspired riffs which help give it a little more edge to the pounding grooves, especially as the next track ‘Warpsword’ completely throws everything you assumed you knew about Conan out of the window. A sub minute long siege of intensity, it feels almost like a transition as it blitzes forward with the sole purpose of hitting you like a battering ram and laying waste to you. Frantic, unhinged and relentless, it is sheer aggression for the sake of it.

Closing track ‘Ocean of Boiling Skin’ puts things back on track with its more controlled pacing. Undeniably heavy, its droning chug riff with ascending turnaround finish has more of those Sabbathian vibes before it descends back to the hammering, monolithic riffs which relentlessly pummel away. Harsh screams, pulsing bass and a raw guitar tone chip away as it lumbers on, shifting to an interesting percussive focused section which is backed up by big sustained chord work which teases collapsing under its own weight into feedback. This soon trails off and what replaces it is a dark, atmospheric section of a sinister bassline with unsettling ambient scraping sounds before the towering walls of noise hit once more with their overwhelming presence. The subtle melodic riff which swells underneath it only adds to the crushing despair laden edge of the music and as it finally comes to rest in some howls of feedback which fade out, it wraps up the release leaving you with an eerie silence. 

For those who have access to it, there is the bonus track ‘Vortexxion’ which is another composition of towering presence, but to call it a song is a little flattering. Instead, it is nearly 10 minutes of howling feedback, scrapes, swelling sustained notes and unsettling atmosphere. It is the recording equivalent of the moment when a band begin to generate feedback when on stage in order to build tension, but instead of it being maybe a minute at most, it is nearly 10 minutes of it. For all its content and purpose, it could have merely been tacked onto the end of the actual closing track to give it a real epic ending but other than that, it serves no real purpose other than to round out the album in an unsettling way. 

In all, Violence Dimension is what you come to expect of Conan. It is a towering monstrosity which is the sonic representation of despair and total defeat. It is unapologetically heavy and will no doubt inflict significant damage on all live crowds who experience its contents, leaving them for the carrion to feast on like the aftermath of a large battle. Surrender yourself to oblivion and accept the inevitable, this is the violence dimension wherein Conan tower over all.