Violence is in our blood, in our soil, in our history books, and it’s something we’ve long romanticized in our music, literature, and film. Violence is something religions used to show dominance over others’ faiths, and it’s something woven into so many of our various sports leagues. We are violent people. We’ll die violent people.

Longtime doom battering ram Conan are as fitting as any band to take on the aforementioned theme, and it’s splattered all over their new album “Violence Dimension.” On this, their seventh record, they smear their bludgeoning energy over these seven (or eight depending which version you have) tracks that are weighty and hammering. The band—vocalist/guitarist Jon Davis, bassist David Ryley (formerly of goddamn Fudge Tunnel), drummer Johnny King—doesn’t change a whole lot from their previous concoctions, but they deliver everything with mauling force that never relents. This is a Cona record through and through, and it’s a motherfucker.

“Foeman’s Flesh” opens with chugging guitars and a bruising pace, Davis’ unmistakable howl stretching out over eons. The playing scorches while a rechanneled path pummels you, barbarian-like blows blasting air from lungs, Davis howling, “Time will kill!” as the drubbing heaviness smears, scorches, and spirals out. “Desolation Hexx” is burly as expected, Davis wailing, “I want nothing but death,” as guitars jab and the playing mangles. More punches find their mark as the playing speeds up, adding to the rumbling, stomping hard as feedback fries. “Total Bicep” is the song title of the year, and it flattens, howls strangling as a clobbering force makes its way across the earth. Guitar smoke chokes, melting in psyche chaos, lathering as noise spits back, guitars bubbling over the surface, and every note slowly fading away. The title track prods as guitars rise, slowly forming around fuzzy carnage, going calm, strangely, before heading further into the darkness. Guitars burst as the bass slithers, a trucking dose of animosity festering as Davis barks forcefully, everything coming to a meaty, sinewy end.

“Frozen Edges of the Wound” blasts with Davis declaring, “The age of violence is here!” as the playing lays utter waste. “No defeat, no remorse,” Davis levels as a hulking, smashing attack takes over, pulverizing to a finish. “Warpsword” is an atypically short one, clocking in at just 45 seconds and completely going for broke. Noise, guitars, and vicious howls combine for a track that stomps your guts into the ground without mercy. “Ocean of Boiling Skin” runs 10:03 and leads in with the guitars teasing, the pace flattening, and Davis’ wails bruising ribs. Riffs lap at the tempo beats you down, folding into weird cosmic winds, washing into eeriness as the drums explore the stratosphere. The punishment returns before too long, powdering skulls, soaring through the air, and spilling into a calculated thrashing that takes no prisoners. “Vortexxion” is a bonus track on some versions of the album, and it’s a total drone flood, filling the senses with slow, lumbering trauma, the overlapping into a black void, a cosmically menacing piece that dominates for 12 minutes.

“Violence Dimension” is a perfect title for the era in which we’re locked, one that’s only going to get bloodier and more indefensible as time goes on. Conan’s might is at its apex here as they ravage over nearly an hour with the hulking doom that has become their calling card and that they do better than anyone else. This record is heavy both in volume and weight, a not-so-subtle reminder we are living in an age of bloodshed that might warp us as people forever.

For more on the band, go here: https://conan-conan.bandcamp.com/music

To buy the album, go here: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS341

For more on the label, go here: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/