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 Post subject: Abdullah - Abdullah
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:38 pm 
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Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:31 pm
Posts: 60
Location: Tennessee
Abdullah's first album is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's a self titled release which came out on Meteor City back in 2000. I write this review in the fall/winter of 2012 five years after I first heard this album which a close friend of mind told me about back when we were first cutting our teeth into stoner/doom stuff other than Black Sabbath and the more well known doom pioneers. He told me about the band and I think he liked them quite a bit but when I got the album I simply fell in love with it and that love continues to grow with every listen still to this day.

The band is extremely tight and the first thing that I liked was how Iommi-like the guitar sound was and also how Iommi-like the riffing was! Nearly every riff on here is forged from the purest doom known to man. The riffs for the most part seem to climb and descend mountains slowly but surely towering over the earth. The songs are all dynamic in similar ways, most usually start with a strong riff with several variations then toward the middle/end a slower beautiful clean or acoustic passage will bring things to a halt before the riffs fire up again.

Again most songs follow this formula but the formula never gets old and all the songs seem to have their own feel and story all their own musically and lyrically. The lyrics are probably one of the strongest areas on this record. I can't stress how good and how deep and meaningful they are. They cover everything from the afterlife, religion, solitude and many other things we've come to find in most doom lyrics but I feel these lyrics on this album simply surpass every other artist in the genre. They are that good.

The vocals also are excellent and somewhat unique in my opinion. Jeff Shirilla has a lot of power and pain in his voice and he uses it to it's full extent on this mammoth of a record. His voice sounds a bit like Layne Staley of Alice in Chains if I had to make a comparison but he still sounds well like Jeff Shirilla. You'll just have to give this record a shot and hear him for yourself he is really something special.

The highlight of this record for me is the beautiful "Lucifer in Starlight". It's a somber clean/acoustic track showcasing just how good this band achieves atmosphere and also how damn good of a singer Jeff Shirilla really is.

That being said, basically every song on this album is a stand-out track, no filler here folks. If you want one of the best doom records of the modern era you need to pick this up immediately.

I write this review if not only to get one more person to check out this band and maybe you'll love them as much as I do. This album has a lot of different emotions and powerful thought provoking lyrics that have gotten me through some tough and sorrowful times.


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 Post subject: Re: Abdullah - Abdullah
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:23 am 
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Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:10 am
Posts: 187
Location: Mooresville, NC
Yeah, great band from from north-east Ohio. I have pretty much everything they released. First one (full length ST) was an amazing, dark doom record. "Graveyard Poetry" was a little more metal. But I really enjoy their 2004 and 2005 demos. Had a little more Misfits influence. "With Guilt" is and will always be one of my favorite hard rock songs ever! So heavy! "Seven Doors" is really slow and heavy too. Songs like "Ribbons", "Burning Away" and "We'll Celebrate" are fast-paced, heavy songs in the vein of Orange Goblin. "Nothing is True, Ever" was an excellent 9-song demo from 2005. Don't know if it ever got proper release? I got it a while ago from the band's website. Would have loved to seen them live. Never got to. Great band that should still be making music!


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 Post subject: Re: Abdullah - Abdullah
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:28 am 

Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:37 am
Posts: 824
Location: A grave in Ireland
I think one or more of them was playing in a shoegazer style band I heard awhile back. I was into these records when they came out, haven't listened to them in quite some time, and honestly liked the shoegaze stuff much better.

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 Post subject: Re: Abdullah - Abdullah
PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:39 pm 

Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:22 pm
Posts: 318
i have a six song cass. from 1999.

wading in black water
long gone
now is the winter
deep river
conundrum
a tribute to my apathy

I remember viewing it as a clear exposition of v. heavy rock drawing on early 70's undertow in its rhythms, tones and feel while mating classicist doom with stripped to the gears rock built of the same sturdy frame. No genre hoping just changes in speed and vocal tone to match the songs. It doesn't surprise me that there is a shoegaze off-shoot, i remember talking to the singer Jeff years ago about MBV et. al. Y'also get the feel Abdullah coulda clocked an Atomic Rooster OR Bauhaus tune w/o sacrificing their identity. I could see current High on Fire tour mates Lo Pan knocking off an Abdullah tune. They woulda been perfect between Soundgarden and Nevermore on that "tour".

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 Post subject: Re: Abdullah - Abdullah
PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:06 pm 
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Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:19 pm
Posts: 1565
Location: Massachusetts
I was really into both this album and "Graveyard Poetry" for a while. Kind of a working class feel to it, Workingman's Doom. "Lucifer In Starlight" is definitely one of the more memorable tracks.

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 Post subject: Re: Abdullah - Abdullah
PostPosted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 2:16 am 

Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:48 pm
Posts: 5
omind wrote:
i have a six song cass. from 1999.

wading in black water
long gone
now is the winter
deep river
conundrum
a tribute to my apathy

I remember viewing it as a clear exposition of v. heavy rock drawing on early 70's undertow in its rhythms, tones and feel while mating classicist doom with stripped to the gears rock built of the same sturdy frame. No genre hoping just changes in speed and vocal tone to match the songs. It doesn't surprise me that there is a shoegaze off-shoot, i remember talking to the singer Jeff years ago about MBV et. al. Y'also get the feel Abdullah coulda clocked an Atomic Rooster OR Bauhaus tune w/o sacrificing their identity. I could see current High on Fire tour mates Lo Pan knocking off an Abdullah tune. They woulda been perfect between Soundgarden and Nevermore on that "tour".



Jeff sent me this tape to use a song for a no-budget CD-R compilation i made for the stoner rock mailing list many lifetimes ago... good stuff!!

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