Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I am something of a doom metal nerd. That does not mean that my knowledge of the genre is exhaustive and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised with a new discovery in a genre that is, quite frankly, oftentimes shitty and derivative.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Fortunately, Merchant are one of the bands who cut through the murk with a sound reminiscent of bands like Yob or even Neurosis. In a world of pretenders the band has been able to craft an utterly punishing and transcendent record that fuses psychedelia with a more traditional sludge approach. The end result will leave you on the edge of your seat. They have an understanding for what makes this type of music great and have been able to capture my imagination with their two song full-length, Beneath

Stream it now:

Beneath is out on May 12th on Jon Paul Davis of Conan's quasi-legendary Black Bow Records.