Album Details

• Artist: Indian
• Album: Guiltless
• Label: Relapse
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2011-07-18

"Guiltless" doesn't really hit its groove until midway through the second track. But once the monster doom riff that anchors "The Fate Before Fate" kicks in, you know that the new Indian has arrived. These sludge-mongers earn points for straying off script here and there, but over all vocalist/guitarist Will Lindsay and company add a deep and thick chapter to the genre with this one.

The opener "No Grace," is in many ways both the best example of that straying and the weakest track. Lindsay's vocals save the jittery riff and understated melody with his taut growl.  While "Guilty" and "The Fate Before Fate" rock with icy menace, there two three tracks here, though that form the chewy center of what this record is all about.

The eight minute title track is a glacial masterpiece of doom, with an epic riff slowed to painfully brooding level. It could be one of the best ever songs in the genre. Likewise, "Supplicants" is also an immediate classic, but for different reasons. At just under three minutes and little more than a minimal riff on an acoustic guitar, "Supplicants" wrings so much emotion and menace from its simplicity that it is as monumental as it is intimate.

Chicago's Indian delivers a haunting winner in a genre that doesn't get enough credit for being able to express more than a handful of emotions. The depths of "Guiltless" prove that to be a wrong assumption.

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