Single Slam – Dead Ends by The Crimson Trip (Self Released)

Mexican stoner/doom merchants, The Crimson Trip, have released a news song called Dead Ends. Billed as an EP release, but containing only 1 track, I’ll review it as a single. Dead Ends was released independently, on the 1st of October.

The Crimson Trip hail from Monterrey and released their self titled debut back in 2014. They followed that up with another full length just a year later, called Order of the Occult. Two full lengths in the space of two years and then silence for the next 3 years. That is until the release of this new song, Dead Ends. the Crimson Trip are a 4 piece. On vocals we have Tony Orta. Guitars are with Jared Zarate while the bass is with Beto Aldape. Finally, on drums is Luis Martinez.

Dead Ends is a long song, at 10 minutes and 10 seconds in length. I don’t always adore stoner/doom music. I have to admit I occasionally find it to be overly drawn out and that can make it boring. Unfortunately that is pretty much exactly how I felt while listening to Dead Ends. It is one of those tracks where I can really appreciate the brooding atmospheric musicianship on show but it never really gets going for me.

It starts off with around 45 seconds of atmosphere building, gentle noise. Little squeals, amp feedback – all subtle though. A single, repeated bass note starts permeating as the track builds before a little drum roll brings the song in proper. It doesn’t kick in with any force, instead lurching into melancholic melody. An insanely slow drum beat taps away and the guitar plays a nice little melody with drawn out notes. Credit to the band, they have certainly managed to create a brooding, sombre atmosphere with a cleverly written, intelligently structured sound. It is around the 3 minute mark before the softer melodies give way to the expected dirty, distorted sound of the electric guitars. A decent enough riff plays out with a few extra drum notes chucked into the foundation.

The vocals come in, cleanly sung, and sung decently and you get a few slowed down guitar melodies that pull the main riff off in different directions. This slightly heavier, more punchy sound continues on until around the 7th minute before it returns to the slowed down, atmospheric instrumentation of the introduction.

Dead Ends is well played and structured reasonably well. What’s not to like? Well, quite a bit actually. Everything is just a little lightweight in my opinion. The vocals are well sung but don’t always sit right with the music that is backing them. The drums could do with a little more power in the heavier sections and a few more notes in the slower bits. I find the song to be stretched way beyond the length it needs to be. 3 minutes either side of atmospherics, feedback and gentle melody is a bit much. They could have shaved the song to have a minute opening and a minute closing. That would have made for a 6 minute track that would have been pretty enjoyable. Instead it just drags, on and on and on.

I know that all sounds really negative so I should point out that what The Crimson Trip are doing in Dead Ends is not abnormal. It is actually quite typical of some bands in this genre. My lack of enthusiasm for the song probably comes as much from not really living stoner or doom metal rather than as a reflection of the band’s quality. If you like this style of music, there is nothing here that will turn you off. If you don’t like this style, and are hoping for something a bit different. This probably isn’t it. Dead Ends is for those who many already be fans of the long, winding, building songs of the genre. For others, it is an okay song with some nice instrumentation, decent vocals and a nicely built atmosphere that just drags on too long.

It does have some pretty cool artwork too, designed by Antonio Fabela. Kudos for that.

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Dead Ends is out now on all the usual streaming platforms, like Apple Music and Spotify. You can also grab a copy from The Crimson Trip’s Bandcamp page, here. Find out more on The Crimson Trip at their Facebook page.