Paranaut – The Hills Fell Silent (Schizofraud)
By Chris Barnes
June 14, 2006

Now here’s some Heaviness I can get behind, something I can hype and sell because I genuinely feel that this recording smokes, and isn’t a product of PR company or label hype. The Hills Fell Silent is an indie release, straight from the band to your ears. As a avid reader of band press kits (unfortunately, not for the info but mostly to have a good laugh at how unique and creative they think they are) the one from Paranaut is refreshing. Three dudes from the Pac Northwest that make heavy music and don’t pretend to be anything else other than three dudes from the Pac Northwest that make heavy music. And what heavy music it is.

Paranaut are conjurers of creative Heaviness, on par with Bong Rock saviors Colour Haze or the mighty touchstone Kyuss in terms of mastery of musical ebb and flow… sonic explorations of the peaks and valleys of frequency whilst never letting go of an unrelenting groove. This type of finesse coupled with a barbaric sense of heavy skull-smashery ala’, say, High On Fire make Paranaut’s works less songs than sonic journeys. The band ditch the traditional confines song structure… there is no verse, chorus or bridge… in favor of territory more akin to that pioneered by Neurosis. Neurosis if they were less self-indulgent and smoked way more weed. I don’t smoke the devil’s weed anymore, but if I did, I’d fire up the hash oil I used to get in the early ‘80’s and blast The Hills Fell Silent on the headphones. But, that being said, heads beware. There is also an overwhelming sense of trepidation here, the kind rooted in the feeling we all first had when Iommi sounded off the devil’s tritone in ’69. If you’re expecting a hippy dippy romp through fields of daises, you’ll be in for a bad trip. It’s more like a romp through Crowley’s castle doused in blacklight and weed smoke.

So hats off to the Paranaut guys, I think this is a stellar recording of material that is creative, unique, dark and most certainly heavy. An outstanding listen.

Purchase The Hills Fell Silent at the Hellride Music Superstore

Download an MP3 of War Monger

Read the Hellride interview with Paranaut

Visit the Paranaut website at www.myspace.com/paranaut