Album Review: Mairu – Sol Cultus (Trepanation Recordings)

Four years in the making, Liverpool, UK based post-sludge-metallers Mairu present their powerful, immersive, and ambitious debut full length Sol Cultus. It is out on July 28th, 2023, on CD, cassette and digital formats through leftfield metal and drone label Trepanation Recordings.

This is certainly something a bit different. Mairu might be one of the most unique sounding bands heard in some time. A band that does a phenomenal job of marrying enthralling post sounds with the filthy power of sludge. The end result is an album that can be summed up as jaw-dropping.

The depth to their sound is immense, and the twists and turns it takes the listener on across the album’s eight tracks are stunning. Most will be completely captivated from the start with the intense noise of Torch Bearer. A nine-minute opener that is as darkly comforting as it is garishly off-putting. The sludgy heaviness working with post-melodies to simply striking results.

For most bands, that would be the epic, but Mairu have put a lot of time and effort into making every single track on Sol Cultus an epic. Take the next track Perihelion for example, it’s haunting and hellacious in equal measures. Mairu really showing off their post muscles, and they’re pretty dam rippling. Then there is Inter Alia, a little over a minute of quiet melody, yet it still seeps into the soul. Before the halfway point is reached with the groaning intensity of Wild Darkened Eyes. Where a mellow drop serves to make the sludgy noise even more animated when it comes back.

Music this heavy shouldn’t sound so beautiful.

The Scattering Dust is another contender for the best track on the album as it finds Mairu sounding their most dangerous. From doomier territories to heart-racing rhythms and sludgy carnage, it’s a beast of a track. Then it’s Per Alia, another quiet piece of melody that grows in stature as it goes on.

Before Atar and Rite of Embers arrive to ensure this is one hell of an unforgettable release. The former embodies darkness and is one of the album’s fastest and heaviest efforts. Whereas the latter is an epic amongst epics, a post epic. It features soul-wrenching melody, powerful and passionate displays of heaviness, and an ending that is simply outstanding.

Bravo Mairu, you’ve smashed it here.

Mairu – Sol Cultus Track Listing:

1. Torch Bearer
2. Perihelion
3. Inter Alia
4. Wild Darkened Eyes
5. The Scattering Dust
6. Per Alia
7. Atar
8. Rite of Embers

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Trepanation Recordings