Alchemical doom. That’s the tag I read the lead vocalist use to describe California-based Jex Thoth’s sound in a Decibel Magazine piece on the band. Sounds about right. I don’t love genre tags, but this band was causing me all kinds of confusion before alchemical doom clicked with me and made sense of the tunes on their debut full-length here. This isn’t exactly proto-doom – but fans of all things heavy, slow and early 70s should dig it. And it’s not just throwback psychedelia because there’s something more, well, pagan involved in the acid-drenched, forest-dwelling jams here. Alchemical doom, then. But genre tags don’t matter and I’m sorry for dragging that old skeleton out of the closet. On to the music.
It’s awesome. I can’t stop listening to it. You may recognize the name of a band called Totem. Well, they changed their name to Jex Thoth (the singer’s stage name). So if you picked up Totem’s debut EP (also quality), get this. Another reason to check this out: Albert Witchfinder (ReverendBizarre) provided the cover art for the album. For those of you unfamiliar with Totem, the band is fronted by a female vocalist and she plays a central role in the proceedings, musically and in the mix, which might be a deal breaker for you if you don’t particularly jibe with her unique and powerful clean style. (At times friends in the car thought I was listening to some unreleased Jefferson Airplane track). The music is heavy and laid way back, led by organs and Sabbath-inspired riffs, full of flutes, spaced-out effects and synths, and a generally fuzzed-out, drugged, lumbering but light-headed feeling. There are bongos, too, just so you know that healthy amounts of green were involved. From: https://yourlastrites.com/2008/04/28/jex-thoth-jex-thoth-review/
