Lovingly pinched from AllMusic: Baltimore’s Arbouretum are singular on the stoner psych-rock scene. Due in large part to the vision of lyricist, frontman, and lead guitarist Dave Heumann, their sound is simultaneously sprawling, devastatingly heavy, sludgy, meandering, and mysterious.

The Gathering showcases a lineup change showcasing keyboardist Matthew Pierce. Paradoxically, the band’s grimy aesthetic doesn’t suffer; they’re even heavier. On these seven songs, Heumann’s guitar and voice remain the focal points. His slow, dense riffing and atypical approach to elongated soloing are extensions of his singing voice (it’s a dead cross between Warren Zevon, John Cale, and Richard Thompson).

Heumann’s writing is drenched in mytho-poetic imagery distilled from Carl Jung’s archetypal psychology (in particular, those that inspired his writing of The Red Book) and less obvious Celtic and Anglo folk traditions. While strange open-space visions of wasted, bleached-out visions of Americana have always haunted his work, the lyrics here transcended those concerns. They are woven into slippery melodies that are juxtaposed against the acid bath of harsh distortion in ever-riffing guitars bogged-out thudding kick drums, open, droning, minimally constructed basslines, and subtle, chameleon-ike keyboard textures.

Continue reading: The Gathering – Arbouretum | AllMusic.