Labels: Black Axis – Withered Hand
Review by: Alex Deller
While not quite the ostentatious gambit of their double-disc debut, London pummelers Pombagira have nevertheless followed it up with something of a meaty feat on their two-track sophomore effort. The hefty wallop of 30-minute opener and title-track “Black Axis Abraxas” showcases the fact that the band have tightened up both their sound and their control over the riffs they wield, demonstrating a clear (h)Omage to the cyclic repetition and roar-cum-chant of stoner / doom archetype “Jerusalem.” It’s with the album’s second track, however, that Pombagira really win out, “Idol Of Perversity” a more meditative effort akin to the early work of the post-Sleep Cisneros / Hakius duo and demonstrating the benefits of careful restraint over constant flat-out crunch. The results, it has to be said, are promising and enjoyably weighty, but show a relatively young act still in clear thrall to the genre’s much-revered masters – next time around let’s see some further branching out and a few of their very own tricks, huh?