“Three Originals” is the latest release by Teleost, a superb Scottish duo based in Glasgow. It’s their first piece of work in 2025, arriving as an adequate follow-up of “Mollusc,” “Dive”, and “Dem O(,” two excellent singles and a demo recording released throughout 2022 and 2023. Still, “Three Originals” illustrates the natural progression of an already amazing band. With these new tracks, Teleost not only showcase their impressive musicianship, but also their tremendous songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities. Lyrically, Teleos dives deep into the basic human need for freedom and reconnection with nature. Soundwise, the band combines several complementary music genres to depict such rich and luxurious sonic imagery. Perhaps stoner comes to mind first, but you’ll also notice how some of the finest properties of sludge, doom, heavy rock, and post-metal found their way into this sonic equation. They use all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift their songs to an entirely different level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. You’ll also notice how all these experimentations with various music genres create an ambiance that continuously levitates between retro and modern sound, making these tracks suitable not only for the long-standing sludge, stoner, and doom fans but also those newbies looking for a catchy, memorable, engaging music fully stacked with brilliant ideas and excellent musicianship.
This epic sonic journey commences with “Forget,” an excellent track that sets the tone for the entire EP. It arrives with a perfect structure, garnered with many intricate segments, tasteful arrangements, and powerful orchestrations. As soon as you press play, it becomes apparent that Teleost poured heart and soul into this composition, as each vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver has its place and purpose. They fully stacked “Forget” with some of the finest guitar riffs you’ll hear on the contemporary stoner, sludge, and doom rock scene. Each segment arrives with generous servings of fuzz distortion, which creates that captivating, addictive, hypnotic, irresistible atmosphere. These raw, abrasive, gritty guitar works immediately grab you by the collar and refuse to let go long after this track ends. Despite all the dirtiness caused by stacking generous amounts of distortion, you’ll still notice all the themes, melodies, and harmonies created by these profoundly creative musicians. This tiny yet important detail sets them apart from the vast sea of modern stoner, sludge, and doom bands, as their combination of rawness and melodics arrives as a breath of fresh air.
“Ether” dives even deeper into the fundamentals of the mentioned music genres, but with even more complex arrangements included along the way. It seems like the band slows down the tempo a little bit more, creating a nearly cathartic, memorable listening experience that will unquestionably resonate with die-hard fans. The rhythmic patterns based upon expertly assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated, half-time beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics serve as a backbone for all those catchy, memorable, engaging guitar works to shine upon. The symbiosis between guitars and drums is more than hearable here, as the exceptional drumming sequences perfectly match those colossal riffs. These soundscapes immensely support impressive vocal performance, another detail that commands attention and guides listeners from scratch to finish. The combination of shouting and melodic clean singing goes beyond comprehension so many times throughout the entire EP, but it’s probably most notable during the “Ether.” The impressive vocal range expertly balances between low, mid, and high notes, decorating everything Teleost intended to achieve with their music. Also, the addition of those calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal guitar works in the middle of this composition prepares listeners for more heavy, powerful, colossal riffs, proving that these creative musicians are capable of delivering equally impressive soundscapes without applying layers of distortion over it.
This epic sonic journey closes with “Throwaway,” a composition that flawlessly combines some of the finest elements of drone, sludge, stoner, and doom together. It’s one of those tracks where the impressive vocal performance meets profoundly heavy, robust, aggressive instrumentations in a very beautiful way. With this track, Teleost dives deeper into doom aesthetics, with even slower rhythmic patterns that add an extra layer of power to this song. In the meantime, the guitars provide another comprehensive collection of marvelous, abrasive, aggressive riffs. It’s another number where the guitar and dreams collide harmoniously without sounding repetitious, pretentious, or boring. Quite the contrary, “Throwaway” is one of those tracks proving that longevous music genres like doom, stoner, and sludge can still sound innovative. Teleost are undoubtedly breaking the rules and pushing the boundaries by experimenting with the fundamentals of these music genres while simultaneously staying loyal to the roots. It’s nearly mindblowing how their music remains melodic while the layers of distortion rumble around. Anyone even remotely into writing and composing stoner rock music knows it’s a difficult task to achieve, but Teleost ultimately succeeded in it.
You should immediately place “Three Originals” on your music radar. It’s an amazing release you should not miss if you’re into the mentioned music genres. These tracks showcase their tremendous experience, knowledge, creativity, skills, and talent, as they continuously push the boundaries of rock and metal music. Whether you’re a longtime stoner fan or just a newbie looking for cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music, this EP will immediately become one of your favorites. It’s a stoner masterpiece by all means. “Three Originals” is available on Bandcamp. Don’t miss it!
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