Qualm – Eden neben jedwedem Elend (Review)

Since I saw a new release of the band Qualm during my weekly Bandcamp search, I first thought of the Black Metal band known to me, but these Qualm turned out to be a new Doom band from North Rhine-Westphalia, which I did not know yet. Due to the for the genre rather untypical virulent aesthetics, I have nevertheless interestingly listened to their debut album Eden neben jedwedem Elend and was quite positively surprised, because what the trio delivers here is nothing less than a high-quality sounding chunk of various elements of slow, heavy and psychedelic riff Metal.

After a mechanical/analog voice announcement that tells us how dangerous smoke can be among other things, the band starts their album and directly provides the first attention with this unusual entry . In the course of the album, this slight experimentation continues to be clear, since there are actually no real vocals except for a few angry outbursts, samples and just that announcement, only lyrics. However, this absolutely fits the instrumentals shown, because so hardly attention is distracted from their vigorous beating. The further you dive into the long player, the more it becomes clear how varied and partly unpredictable Qualm actually are, which is not always the case with a debut album. Especially thanks to the massive drumming and the pure instrumental aspect, you can’t avoid a comparison with Bongripper, although they are a lot darker, what Qualm don’t necessarily want to be. Even if the drums are certainly not the most versatile that you can meet in this genre, they are permanently intense and always find the right beat to not be too monotonous over the entire playing time.

However, it can also be that this only seems so to me next to the oodles of interesting riffing and fancy guitar effects. Here you get everything from deeply distorted cleaver chords to fuzzy elements to spacey Krautrock. A good recommendation for this tune would maybe be Bad Luck Rides On Wheels. Although there are a lot of different sounds, they always blend into each other and aren’t out of place or overloaded at any point. Thus, the sound does not become too smooth, the bass hums audibly in the foreground in various parts and can also talk for himself with strong lines. The trio collects further plus points with me with their powerful sound production, which is, just like the seamlessly merging songwriting, absolute big time for a first album. Qualm push properly good vibes on the ear with Eden neben jedwedem Elend and show once again how polished, creative and well produced a band can already be on their first output these days.

So far, to be exact since February 4, the long player is only available as a digital version, which could still be added due to the quality. Since the band is still fresh meat, the plan was probably first to spread the musical skills, no matter in what way. In particular, I like Qualm, because they take themselves in retrospect to the “lyrics” and the aesthetics probably not too seriously, but exactly therefore stand out from the current mass a little and can thus be taken seriously. Eden neben jedwedem Elend has a lot to offer and shows strong songwriting and crisp sound for a debut record, it remains interesting until the end and will appeal with its charisma especially to those of you who drink their tap water from old coke bottles after they have smoked themselves with full pleasure to stick on the couch to a trippy, brute tune.

Favourite Tracks:
“Menschenminze”
“Sie Sind Gestorben”

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