Bandcamp Look at that cover: a giant skull mounted on monster-truck tyres, a masked luchador-warrior brandishing a mace, the whole thing rendered in blood-red B-movie grain and stamped “Stereo Sound.” Monsternaut, from Kerava in Finland, make exactly the music that artwork promises, ten tracks of pulpy, riff-first stoner-doom with names like “Black Blizzard” and “Demon Strikes,” recorded, so the story goes, straight to analog tape for that early-90s grit. On pure vibe, Approaching Doom delivers the goods.
There’s real quality in the playing and the riffs. “Black Blizzard” is the clearest example, its rhythm guitars cutting with excellent string separation over a wiry, growling bass, and across the record the trio lock into the kind of meaty, mid-forward stoner grooves that made this genre. When the production leans into its raw side, it’s better still: “Humana Stew” and the closer “Final Pain” carry an unpolished, room-tracked live feel with the dynamics left intact, exactly the analog warmth the band were presumably chasing, and it suits them.
The problem is that the album can’t hold that line. For a record sold on tape warmth, too much of it is mastered modern and loud: “Cold,” “Evicted,” “Approaching Doom,” “Demon Strikes” and “Heavy Monday” are compressed hard for maximum volume, the dynamics flattened and the upper mids turned sharp and fatiguing, the low end left thin on real sub-bass. The result is a record at war with itself, half sweaty rehearsal-room grit, half brickwalled modern sheen, and the two halves never quite reconcile. Track to track you’re never sure which Monsternaut you’ll get.
Approaching Doom is a fun, gritty, thoroughly unpretentious stoner-doom record with great artwork, strong riffs and a genuine feel for the genre’s pulpy heart, undercut by a mastering inconsistency that keeps flattening its best analog instincts. When it stays raw and lets the tape breathe, it’s a blast; when it chases loudness, it loses exactly the warmth that makes it worth hearing. Crank the rawer half, forgive the rest, and enjoy the monster truck.
Pulpy, riff-first B-movie stoner-doom recorded, per the story, straight to analog tape for early-90s grit. There’s real quality in the riffs: “Black Blizzard” cuts with excellent string separation over a wiry growling bass, and the trio lock into meaty, mid-forward stoner grooves throughout. It’s better still when the production leans raw, “Humana Stew” and the closer “Final Pain” carrying an unpolished, room-tracked live feel with dynamics intact, the analog warmth the band were chasing. But the album can’t hold that line: for a record sold on tape warmth, too much is mastered modern and loud, “Cold,” “Evicted,” “Approaching Doom,” “Demon Strikes” and “Heavy Monday” compressed hard for volume with dynamics flattened, upper mids sharp and fatiguing, low end thin on real sub-bass. The result is a record at war with itself, half sweaty rehearsal-room grit, half brickwalled sheen, the two halves never quite reconciling. Fun and gritty, undercut by a mastering inconsistency that flattens its best analog instincts.
Standout tracks: Black Blizzard, Humana Stew, Final Pain
