Obiat – Eye Tree Pi

Obiat is a name that should be familiar to anyone who’s been keeping an eye on the UK stoner / doom scene.  With an impressive list of support slots under their collective belt (Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, Ramesses, My Dying Bridet, The Atomic Bitchwax . . .  the list goes on) there’s a fairly good chance that if you’ve been going to stoner / doom shows in London and the South East of England,  you’ve probably seen this lot live at some point. Having recently (almost twelve months now) signed to Small Stone Records,  Obiat will no doubt be hoping that Eye, Tree, Pi their third full length album will make them the band that every self respecting stoner band will want to support.

Opening track Poison the Honey creeps into life with the eerie drone of bellows, setting a tone and mood that is to last for the duration of not only the track but also the entire album.  When the satisfyingly heavy riff kicks in Obiat leave you in no doubt that if the rest of the album is as impressive as these opening minutes then they are indeed a band that any self respecting stoner / doom outfit will want to get on a bill with.

Poison the Honey, and for that fact the whole of Eye, Tree, Pi is, at least to my ears, an great mix of the sonic bombast of doom and the epic feel that we’ve come to expect from post-metal bands like Isis and Mouth of The Architect, despite that comparison Eye, Tree, Pi never loses direction or slips into the sort of self indulgent musical meanderings that are there to tempt bands straying into post-metal waters.

The guitar sound on this album can only really be described as immense. Switching from a sweet, clear, almost Cure-like feel to a gloriously solid distorted tone,  the overall affect is both engaging and thoroughly satisfying. Whenever the impressive vocals are present they soar into life and fade under a sea of reverb, ebbing and flowing throughout the album making the tracks something  the listener can  genuinely  get lost in. The truly epic Serpent’s Rites (which at over twelve minutes long is unquestionably the albums centre piece) shows off Obiat at their very finest, everything that is great about this band is on display in this one track. If Serpent’s Rites is a sign of what Obiat are capable of then I think it’s safe to expect big things from this band.

Like Taint (who, incidentally, have also worked with Eye, Tree, Pi’s producer Chris Fielding) Obiat have managed to create a sound that belongs to them alone, no mean feat by anyone’s standards. Keep an eye on Obiat, if the stoner / doom scene continues to grow in popularity they will be one of the bands at the top of the heap.

Obiat’s Myspace

by enos