MNRVA - Black Sky

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MNRVA is a Sludge/Doom band from South Carolina. “Black Sky” is their debut EP, having formed just last year.  However, that doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are doing or they are rookies.  Vocalist/Guitarist Byron Hawk is from ARCANE, OUR TRAGIC HOURS, and IRON FIST.  Both the bassist Kevin Jennings and drummer Gina Ercolini are from TURBO GATTO and IRON FIST as well.

If you like fuzz, this little EP is exactly what Dr. Doom ordered; all three tracks are laden with fuzz so heavy, so thick, my head started feeling like it was being filled with narcotics.  Byron and Kevin have definitely figured out how to make stoner riffs even heavier by throwing Doom on top of it all, letting the fuzz do the rest of the work to make this one ultra-heavy yet memorable. Gina is a more than solid drummer who lays down a solid foundation, using the tempo of the songs to her advantage to push everything forward thru the haze while bringing it all together.

The first track, “Not The One,” features those drums backing up the guitars with a banging presence.  The main riff is sludgy as hell and about as thick as walking thru quicksand.  The vocals are clean but have just enough heavy gruff from the throat to give the band a bit of a heavier edge than some others of this style.  The guitar solo towards the end caps the whole song off with an old school Doom sound that is rooted in classic hard rock.

 “No Solution,” had my head banging due to the excellent timing of the drums.  The riffs here are extremely dense but also very groovy and catchy.  After the 3:50 mark, the song turns as about as heavy as you are going to hear outside of a Death Metal album.  The following solo weaves in and out of the bass for a mystical finish. The title track comes last and it is easily the darkest of the three.  The riffs, bass, drums…ever one plays their instrument as hard as they can and even the vocals have more of an edge.  I found this track to the best one as well because it retains the Stoner/Sludge aspect of their Doom sound but also lets the band experiment with a heavier side.

It is so hard to review albums this short because it is difficult to judge a band/album in such a short time. Ultimately, though, this is a very short but very competent blast of Doom…there are way worse ways to spend 18 minutes of your time.  I, for one, cannot wait to see what else this band does.

Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Memorability: 8
Production: 8