Featuring members of Cave In, SUMAC, ISIS [the band], Zozobra and Converge, OLD MAN GLOOM’S “Seminar II” has taken sludge rock and metal to its furthest reaches yet, mixing Neurosis-style apocalyptic blasts, the kind of psychedelic, harrowing ambience that would give Earth nightmares and an obsession with all things simian. Santos Montaño (Zozobra) and Aaron Turner (SUMAC, ISIS ...[the band]) are the thread that drives Old Man Gloom. What began as an act of immediacy has turned into a full-fledged band, with the addition of members Nate Newton (Converge, Cave In), Caleb Scofield (Cave In, Zozobra) and Luka Scarola (Luddite Antiques). Structurally: short, damaging sonic barbs, stylistically similar to Isis’s dirge, yet unafraid to explore their more stoner rock leanings, intercut with ambient compositions, noise tracks and bizarre sonic manipulations, to form a fractured yet engrossing whole. A suffocating melange of various sound textures fused and soldered together by five ambitious musicians - with the help of alt-metal producer/guru Kurt Ballou. Indeed, Old Man Gloom’s music is a successful jaunt into the deepest recesses of discord, where fortuity and pure energy collide in a spectacular landscape of sound and sight.
