MAHARAJA – Aviarium
Release Date: 9th December 2022
Label: Seeing Red Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Psych, Desert Rock.
FFO: Generation of Vipers, Conan, Torche & Weedeater.
Review By: John Newlands
Maharaja are a sludgy doom powerhouse from Dayton Ohio. I admit, I have no clue where that is having never visited the US before, but im not entirely sure Dayton Ohio would be on my “must visit” places with the press statement for Avarium noting that the album is “inspired by real events as well as observational insight, the album converses drug addiction, murder, police violence, and the effects of living in a turbulent, depressing place.” Cheery stuff, then!
My second admission for this review, I’ve never heard of Maharaja the band before. Its a familiar name, one of the handful of crap Indian restaurants here in in Bergen Norway is called Maharaja, but that’s as much as I can comment. When I hit play on this record, I was happy that now I know who Maharaja the band are.
Track 1, Hopeless, opens the LP with feedback guitar giving way to a thick weighty doomy sludge riff that is as thick, oppressive and as pummelling on the guts as a lamb vindaloo. When the vocals kick midway through the track we are presented with a visceral and distorted onslaught, lightened with a touch of multi-layered vocals. Another highlight of this track is the guitar solo, no shredding here, this is the perfect solo for the track and provides another welcome flavour within the dense mix of the track.
Track 2, Soulless, opens with a cool stuttering tremolo/ delay guitar, accompanied by some nice drum work, which gives way to another weighty, thick sludge riff overlain with layered vocal tracks akin to gang vocals. At the midway point, Soulless takes a sharp change in direction, providing the listener with a drum prominent section which to me was reminiscent of Sepultura ca. Chaos AD / Roots. The back of the track sees Maharaja deliver yet another monstrous head banging riff that makes your face screw up in approval.
Lifeless is the next offering on Avarium and it is the shortest and most upbeat track on the album. The change in tempo provides a welcome change in texture, before taking a deep breath and moving on to the album closer, Ballad of the Flightless Bird.
This final track on the album is the longest offering coming in at just over 10mins in length. The tempo is reduced once again and we are served up with some tasteful lead guitar work overlaying another well crafted riff. This track definitely has a more desert rock, post metal and doom vibe. It has a more experimental feeling and dials back on the sludge feel offered up by the three prior tracks. It’s not unfitting to the rest of the album and very welcome to see that Maharaja are willing to experiment out with the confines of the standard tropes within a genre.
Overall, Avairium is an enjoyable 25 minutes of heavy hitting, devastatingly heavy and sometime unhinged sludge metal. Maharaja have done well not to overplay as to alienate the listener which results in an LP that warrants repeated listens. I have played this back to back several times and likely will do again in the future & am looking forward to seeing what the band will do next.
(3.5 / 5)
