Some music must absolutely be replayed at plentiful volume for the converging audio waves to align proper in the center of your mind. "Mellified Man" is just such a work of music, a buzz bomb dropped on an impure and befouled public in this, the Year of COVID-19 by outre doom artist WARRIOR POPE (2015) based out of Bristol in the United Kingdom.  The lads and one lass had a prior release from 2017 titled "Anchorite". Give it a go as well, a fuzzy beast of wordless droning feedback...

'From Strength Comes Sweetness' starts off the honey luv with a dulcet corporeal arpeggiated poke and after the tension builds sufficiently, heads snout down into 'The Nobility of Sacrifice'. Crabbing in on a riff reminiscent of 'Ina Gadda Da Vida' by the mighty IRON BUTTERFLY, 'The Nobility of Sacrifice' establishes a deliberately doomy and swarming portent; we also get a snootful of vocalist Russell Barron. I like this guy's work. His vocal delivery is somewhat like the lad from DEFHEAVEN but he wisely leaves the overblown dragon hissing back at the lair, instead putting more of a dead ghoul spin on the old Kookaburra ball o' fyre...body donation mummified in honey...

Hit single material 'Honeyed Words from Barbed Tongues' has a sick dual guitar harmony thang goin' on, a la-dee-da riff that takes the doom out for a stroll, goes off-leash then lets us distill our own Moira. Nick Cottle is an accomplished guitarist, producer and composer that likes it Vesper clear and thundering - intense enough to flap bell bottom pants like sails in overdriven Celestion winds, and if you want to be properly engaged by this music you have to engage the volume thruster - and that still ain't the same as being there in the front row with your orb lids pinned back in a Clockwork Orange din.

'Embrace Mortality'...seeking to reach beyond the end, in service of those yet unborn...an offer made, a pact agreed...these are some off-kilter tunes. They kinda disappear in through the out door musically, but they bear repeated listening to their gelatinous metal meets black hole grinding grooves...luscious embrace of mortality...delicious marinade...'Saponification Process' ... just what the hell is that supposed to be? Ahh..you dirty minded wankers you...behave ¡! This is my fav slice of thee jellied royal beeswax. Katya's drumming is aces and lays down proper in a sorceress groove to keep the music humping through the gambol, measured and dangerously deliberate like a lorry full of nitroglycerin thumping along an Andean donkey path just one score from oblivion.

Contemplate the title of standout cut 'Sarcophageal Tranquility', which unwraps a meandering reverse BEATLES leading tone lick onto Russell's demon rap then gasses out to a blues guitar line that scrapes around the edges of the song's precipice ultimately worming its way into the iron man void... Rejuvenation through cannibalism...the gift of death to supplement life...drone... 'Mellified Man' closes the disc out looping GODFLESH racket that swarms in the confines of one lick BLACK SABBATH worship, bending knees on a wave of MY BLOODY VALENTINE stacked bombast with a doom core in the sonic columns.

Scale. Intensity. You can't squint at 'Third of May 1808' by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya while on a quick run through the Museo del Prado in Madrid and 'get it'. You have got to open your eyes wide, stand there awhile and let the polaroid evil develop.  The totally icky theme not withstanding, "Mellified Man" is one cracking piece of work that could have went down the atmospheric glory hole of usual Doom production but instead chose a more unwrapped and candid presentation. That is some brass ballocks, mates. The more you listen to "Mellified Man" LOUD, the more you will dig it, I swear - with honey on top.

Hell is empty and all the honey devils are here in the Spotify list of Dani Bandolier reviewed bands....

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/272H3UBARsuksY3BqU0CzP?si=vv6fd03cR5yiJw0D5CSPHg