The Flashcards: Mërgim - Shpirti (2020)

70/100

The Argentinian sludge/post-metal band, Mërgim kicks off their career with a 14-minute instrumental single that delivers a solid baseline of standard quality. The heavy sludge riffs can be heard from the 03:15-05:15 mark. The title sounds like a Sanskrit word, but when I tried looking it up, it actually means soul/spirit in Albanian. Unfortunately, I only fully locked into the lighter nuances found in the psychedelic-tinged plucking from 01:06 to 03:14. Well, it eventually gets pummeled by the next segment before resuming the psychedelia until the 07:27 mark. Another prominent piece is the drone that stretches from 10:35 until the very end. What exactly is the purpose of it being there? A soul melting away and getting distorted inside some dimension? That’s a bit too abstract to comprehend...

Maybe fans of Earth band, Boris, Bongripper, Sunnata, and the like would know better.

Tracklist:

1. Shpirti

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