Pothamus – Abur
Release Date: 14th February 2025
Label: Pelagic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Metal, Post-Rock, Sludge, Tribal, Drone.
FFO: Psychonaut, Amenra, Tool, Wardruna, Heilung, Briqueville.
Review By: John Newlands
Abur is the sophomore release album for Belgian “post metal” trio Pothamus released on Pelagic Records. The bands 2020 release Raya was one of the years highlights for me, despite being released in December of that year. Since then, I have listened to Raya a countless number of times, studied and tried to understand the song names and artwork and pondered over what Pothamus were going to come up with next.
Raya was to me already twisting out of the “post metal” or “sludge” labels and away from their Belgian peers that were flooding these genres. The closest I could compare them too was Psychonaut, who’s Unfold The God Man (also 2020) was equally remarkable yet with more prog and less tribal attributes. I secretly hoped, that they would lean deeper into those tribal flourishes, and I’ll tell you now, with Abur, they deliver and then some!!
Album opener Zhikarta builds gently over the first 1:30 with some light percussion clean sung soaring chanting vocal underpinned with a guttural growls and guitar before breaking out into a huge buzzing fat bassline and tribal drumming that drives the track forward. We continue with clean vocal and lead passages throughout, which add lift and dynamic to the track.
Pothamus understand clearly when to add and when to subtract. Sometimes the mix can seem extremely dense, with new layers being added for texture, but also by removing these layers, they allow a change in dynamics, not in tone, and this works very well.
Track 2 Ravus, one of my favorites, opens with a call and answer clean and growled vocal passage which works brilliantly. Again, the tribal drumming and buzzing (and this time bending) bassline underpinning all the guitar and layers of instrumentation is an absolute delight.
Track 3 De-varium, slows us down after the pummelling assault of the first two tracks. I believe this track makes heavy use of a shruti box, a bellows instruments originating from the Indian subcontinent which delivers a drone to which is accompanied by a soft bassline and clean vocal harmonies.
There may be some other instrumentation on Abur that I am not familiar with, however, I have come to learn that Pothamus happily embrace less conventional western instrumentation throughout the release, which for me is very inspiring.
Track 4 Svartuum Avur, continues at first where De-varium left off however, at the midpoint becomes a crushing deluge of distorted bass, swirling guitar, and guttural vocal.
Ykavus, track 5, in some ways seems to be a counterpoint to track 2 Ravus. Here, there are again flourishes towards the more drone and meditative leanings of Pothamus. Artists such as CHVE or Amenra (acoustic) come to mind, blended with the stripped-down primitive and ancient qualities channeled through artists such as Wardruna or Heilung. I even thought the vocal sounded reminiscent of Manard from Tool, which is in no way a bad thing.
Despite drawing these similarities to other artists, the impressive thing here is that Pothamus manage to retain their own identity and originality throughout the release. Pothamus sound like Pothamus, and I love that! Everything the band seem to do, down to the fantastic artwork with collaborator Iljen Put, has intention or a feel that is clearly thought out.
The closing track, Abur, is a 15-minute behemoth that delivers a little bit of everything experienced throughout the previous 5 tracks and is a very fitting and grand end to an epic album.
At 47 mins in length, some may find Abur a tad on the long side, but I would argue that for this listener the 47 mins is demolished in what feels like 35 mins. Tonally, Abur may also seem quite linear and repetitive, and for some I could foresee that being an issue. However, as with all tribal, mantras or drone inspired music, that repetitive and even tonality is essential to provide the listener with a meditative, moving and cleansing experience.
Although Abur lends to being digested in one listening, it also has some bangers that can be played standalone and still thoroughly enjoyed.
I for one, really appreciate what Pothamus have done to further evolve their style and navigate the somewhat stale genres and genre labels that they are pushing beyond. I eagerly wait to see what comes next for the trio. But for now, I’m off to buy a shruti box and get droning!
(5 / 5)
