Middian: stonerdoom, made by people left over from YOB, that being Mike Scheidt and two others he recruited to fill the blank spots. YOB was a big American doom band back in the day. Not that for back though; guitarist and vocalist Mike Scheidt called the time of death on YOB in 2005, when his bassist and drummer left and he didn’t feel like creating a new line-up for the same band again (it had happened before a couple of times). Instead, he founded a new band with drummer Scott Headrick and bassplayer Will Lindsay. They were to be called Middian. Now, in the glorious 2007 their debut album is out. It’s called ‘Age Eternal’ and it is at times quite impressive and an overall very good and moody album. It would’ve been a fantastic album, if only the last two songs…

Normally one or two less impressive songs isn’t too much of a problem, given that it’s only a portion of the whole. ‘Age Eternal’ however, has only five songs on it. Two out of five: 40 percent down the crapper. So no high rating.
But we’ll get to that later. Let’s now describe the music on the album. The (first three) songs are full of lengthy intro’s, dragging riffs, angry but somehow resigned screams and grunts, mixed with clean, higher pitched vocals, that sound like a muffled Ozzy Osbourne. It’s as if the scream/grunt man has the sand of the desert in his mouth as he sings his lines of fun and laughter. And, as to be expected by the stoner aspect of this doom, the instruments also sound sand-laden. As if gravel ended up in the power cables. It all makes for a moody (well obviously, it’s doom), slow to mid-paced, yet aggressive whole, that takes it’s time. Rightfully so; the songs Middian play need room to meander and evolve to become (somewhat) epic soundscapes of doom, terror, regret, reflection and overall plain misery and whatnot.

When ‘Dreamless Eye’ goes on for seven minutes on middle pace, then breaks down and ends its final five minutes in slow, dragging doom, that is when Middian truly impresses. Throw in some slow guitar licks on top of the riff, that sound like they’re played under water, and all is just very, very nice.
‘The Blood Of Icons’ mixes slow and middle pace up more frequently, and that works, maybe because the middle pace makes for a good counterweight for the slow.

But the best part of that song is when six minutes have gone by, and the final 3 minutes and 45 seconds start, that when it becomes really something else. What a bridge, what a way to build up to epic, earthquakish heaviness. Mike S. (or maybe that bassplayerguy also has a part in it) screams as if they are watching the world come to and end from atop a skyscraper and remember everything they cherish is all they left at home. A home they can now never again get to, and they will die alone, with the memory of their loved ones, in the midst of the apocalypse.
Of course, the title-track that follows ‘The Blood Of Icons’, sounds like it starts after the apocalypse, and some people survived, but now they realise how very crappy this situation is. You know, nothingness, wreckage, that kind of stuff. They wade through the piles of rubble to find something to save but there is nothing, only corpses, dust and dead dogs. If you try, maybe now you can imagine how the song sounds.
Then, songs 4 and 5, the reason this album isn’t rated 8.5 out of 10. Song four, ‘The Celebrant’, takes only six minutes and boasts a different atmosphere than the three aforementioned ones. It’s also faster and has way more lyrics, instead of the aphoristic approach the first three songs of the album take. The song simply doesn’t work. The riffs aren’t interesting and most times just plain annoying and there’s too much vocal stuff going on. ‘The Celebrant’ sounds rushed and out of place. Dare I say it? Yes: it’s crap.
Oh, fuck it. Song five isn’t as much crap as it sounds like they recorded it while their inspiration was all gone. Screams over overly repeated riff, grunts over same overly repeated riff, then really uninspired new riff, with directionless vocals to match. Just, well… I’m just completely losing my own inspiration as I listen to it. It should not have been on here. Maybe as a bonus track or something, but not as a ‘real’ song.

The first three songs are wonderful. Then ‘Age Eternal’ starts to stink like stale water. The two last tracks annoy to the very core, especially when you know what Middian is capable of creating. Next time, make an album with three songs if inspiration doesn’t suffice for five.