Aptera is here with their debut full-length album,You Can’t Bury What Still Burns (Ripple Music). Taking their name from the battle site between sirens and muses (that’s metal as fuck!), Aptera is an all-female foursome who performs some heavy seventies-inspired doom / sludge.

You can instantly feel the thunderous and heavy attack on the first track, ‘Voices of Thunder’, the track plods and grooves with murky riffs in the intro and speeds things up when the vocals come in. ‘Mercury’ offers up a sludge fest with a little harsher vocal take with heavy riffing and some haunting solos that perfectly match the despiraton in the vocals.

While doom and sludge can be quite an acquired taste, Aptera is palpable enough for the beginning listener.

‘Unbearable Stain’ picks up the pace a bit with some punishing drums that propel the track forward – not too much faster of a pace mind you but enough to stand out from the previous tracks. ‘Cosmos’ is an aptly named track due to its psychedelic and dreamlike feel. This song is one of the largest highlights of the recording. It almost feels like they are taking the listener on a journey or leading the charge into battle. Perhaps against sirens and muses?

‘Days of the Void’ feels like it would fit right at home on an older Black Sabbath record. It’s a shorter track but it still packs a potent punch. ‘When the Police Murder’ shows the band expirental with a litle bit more of a melodic approach. The album closes out with ‘Nepenthes’ an eight-minute track that starts off super sludgy and gets faster in parts with some nice backing vocals and plenty of haunting riffs.

You Can’t Bury What Still Burns is an impressive debut that fans of doom and early seventies inspired heavy metal will definitely want to check out. Recorded during the pandemic, the tracks are oozing with rage, loneliness and despair. It’s full of gloom and doom but adds enough melody and impressive guitar work to keep each track fresh and different.

Buy the album here: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/you-cant-bury-what-still-burns

 

7 / 10

ANDREW RISCH