Usnea

The Sleeping Shaman (http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/u/usnea-st-lp-dd-2013/)

"The attributes of the musicians are put to the test when, from a dense and dreary register, they unfold the music into a more atmospheric, almost psychedelic point, giving us one of the most beautiful moments on this track. By creating such moments like this, Usnea hold and captivate the listener, using unpredictability as one of their biggest weapons, besides giving the tracks a unique character to each one. Just imagine the dreary funeral doom atmosphere created by Aldebaran, blended with the lurid and mysterious atmosphere of Laudanum, with the most calm yet threatening side of Thou. In one whole track we have that crushing doom with some psychedelic atmospheres and it closes with a beautiful, serene and comforting instrumental. I only heard one track on their Bandcamp some weeks ago and I immediately knew that something really amazing was on the way. Not all bands blend in such a perfect way their influences that go from the early Peaceville doom bands to the more contemporary bands like Loss, Aldebaran, Mournful Congregation and others. With this album not only Usnea open their way to the front-line of the US doom/sludge scene, right along with bands like Lycus, Amarok, Hallow, Bädr Vogu, Bereft, Serpentine Path and many others, but they also had the prowess to make one of the best albums of doom/sludge of the Year. I’m pretty sure that this album will take place in many lists of the best that has been done in terms of heavy music at the end of this year. Clearly the solid background as (great) musicians is one of the main factors of Usnea’s success but also the creativity, the performance, the whole production involved and the level of excellence of what has been heard here makes me want to believe that Usnea is a name that soon will be heard on every doom/sludge fan not far from now. I simply love this album, it quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year. I must confess that hear it almost every day. It blends perfectly some of my favorite genres – funeral doom, doom metal and sludge – by creating beautiful atmospheres that give me complete goose-bumps like i didn’t felt since Aldebaran’s “Buried Beneath Aeons” or Mouth Of The Architect’s “The Ties That Blind”. If you seek your favorite doom album for the year, look no further. Just like usnea (the lichen), this album will grow more and more right after each audition."

-CVLT NATION; part of review by Haxan (Forever Cursed and Cvlt Nation; http://www.cvltnation.com/usnea-draft/)

"savage music with enormous depth that would use pets and children as bear bait... This album, composed of four ten-plus minute tracks, feels like a bog thawing as winter passes, where the nights are still long and dark but the creeks start to gurgle beneath the snow. I hesitate to call this music “funeral doom” because to me it feels like something dangerous waking after hibernation, coming to life instead of crawling into a casket... a magnificently crushing debut album. Honestly, even mentioning it’s a debut album feels like a qualifying phrase. This is a focused, grim, and truly great record, regardless of where it sits chronologically in a discography."

- Mister Growl (http://mistergrowl.blogspot.com/2013/03/review-usnea-st.html)