From: Alarm666 Webzine
Published: February 12, 2013
Original Link
*Translated by Allan Nielsen

From Australia comes the doom metal band Subterranean Disposition, which is an onemanband, where everything is written and recorded (excluding a few minor guest acts) by Terry Vainoras. According to the press, Terry has also been involved in a few different bands and project, and that can also be heard on “Subterranean Disposition”, which is the band’s debutalbum.

The starting point is the well-known genre doom metal, which we know from classic bands like My Dying Bride, old Anathema, Draconian etc. Though you can hear that Terry wants to play around with known elements from the genre, and experiment a bit, it has all resulted in a quite versatile album.

The opening track “Between Apes and Angels” starts out quite traditionally with a calm, build-up intro, following with the heavy feature of a good riff and deep growls, and later in the both Aaron Stainthorp-inspired half-spoken vocal, prolonging piece á la Candlemass more heavy input, and in the end a replay of the calm intro as an outro. A decent and classical well-written doom-track that immediately draws the listener’s attention.

“Prolong This Agony” follows up, and also draws a few similarities to Anathema and My Dying Bride, and suddenly falls down into a silent passage with some female vocals. That unfortunately doesn’t have a lucky outcome, primarily because of the singer Phoebe Pinnock’s voice which lacks a bit power and tone. Looking past that, it’s a decent track with good variations and melancholic melodies.

The next 12-minute long track “Seven Sisters of Sleep” surprises on the way through, with a really heavy staccato-piece, where there is put a megaphone-effect over the loud vocals, and ends with an almost Cult of Luna-sounding passage. The track ends with slow doom and a sad mood. That mood continues prevailing in the following “The Most Subtle of Storms”, which is the albums longest track of almost 15 minutes. A track full of variance and with some ingredients added to the mix. The melodic fiddle-fiddle piece that suddenly emerges as a giant from a box, seems a bit misplaced, but most surprising it (the track) is, since we halfway through are met by a calm jazzy saxophone! Very special and original, but maybe a bit too experimental to fit into the track as a whole. A bit of sea winds and storm before a calm fingerpicked piece ends “Seven Sisters of Sleep”.

The album is ended by “Wailing My Keen” which – together with the opening track – is my favourite. A really good track, already when the vocals first kicks in with deep growling and clean singing. Goosebumps! Phoebe is also a guest on this track, but unlike her performance in “Prolong This Agony”, there’s a bit of luck. It is actually quite a simple track, but the dense atmosphere and melodies is all it needs, and the track serves as a perfect outro for “Subterranean Disposition”.

Terry Vainoras and his Subterranean Disposition Is definitely an exciting offering for the doom-genre. There are a lot of good inputs, but some that falls a bit off. As a whole, the fans of the 90ies’ doom-scene should listen to the Australian’s band output, since it undoubtedly has a lot to offer.