
There are two reasons I picked The Cimmerian‘s An Age Undreamed Of out of the promo queue. The first is I’m an easy mark for naked pandering to fantasy fans. Conan homages? A cheeky Moorcock reference? Why yes, you can play me your music. The second is the promo describes The Cimmerian as a doom/thrash band, and given that I regard those two genres as going in two opposite directions, I was really curious to see just how exactly that would work.
The answer is pretty well. An Age Undreamed Of leans more towards doom with its thick, dark sound and rumbling riffs – this is very much on the stoner/sludge end of the genre , with just an injection of thrash energy here and there on songs like “Darkwolf” to break things up. The rhythm section of Nicolas Rocha on bass and David Morales on drums is busy and noticeable throughout in a very rock and roll way, with Morales‘s fills particularly prominent. It’s these little details that make An Age Undreamed Of more than a pleasantly forgettable collection of fuzzy low notes and instead make it brim with a vitality that suggests The Cimmerian are a blast live. When they lean on Dave Gein‘s guitar to provide a more melodic contrast to the rhythmic assault, as with the somewhat MENA sounding melodies “Silver and Gold”, they find an extra gear. When they pull all of those parts together in one dynamic epic as with “Mournblade”, The Cimmerian sound genuinely great.
Sadly there is only one “Mournblade” on An Age Undreamed Of (although “Deathstalker” isn’t far off). The Cimmerian have forged a rollicking, down and dirty piece of metal that will get doom fans off to a fine start to the year, but I still crave something extra from the band. The more epic and expansive take on their sound they showcased all too briefly. Regardless of whether they solve that riddle of steel though, I’ll go adventuring with The Cimmerian again.