Getting Laid at Bandcamp X
Wake up campers! Time to die.
reliq – Empire Of Broken Signs (Berlin, Germany) 2014
The second Empire Of Broken Signs starts you instantly feel immensely claustrophobic and uneasy. The eerie but soft build up sends shivers down the spine and makes for a bracing interval that leads into an eruption of blasting discomfort that crushes the soul. reliq play a doomy experimental style of post metal with incredible haunting female shrieks, screams, and clean vocals that are howled, sung, and echoed throughout Empire Of Broken Signs. The first song, “In My Dreams”, really hits the nail in the skull hard because reliq want you to know up front that they have some very angry demons. After the merciless “In My Dreams” finishes, the rest of Empire Of Broken Signs gradually becomes less crushing but still stays claustrophobic and grim. The second song, “Silent Dominion”, has a psychedelic occult rock n roll feel to it. The song also has a lot of straightforward heavy groove that allows room for some really creative and hypnotic vocals. The finishing song, “The Sea”, is the perfect closer. This song gives me goosebumps and shivers every time I listen to it. reliq is some 2014 best of material; I just wish it was a full length album. Check out more of reliq‘s material on their personal Bandcamp page here.
Necro Deathmort – EP2 (London, England) 2014
Experimental doom metal mixed with electronica is something new to me, but I surprisingly dig it. The beginning of EP2 starts with abrupt beats and soundscapes that eventually stop and leave us with a spacey and suspenseful nightmare that seems to act as the slow opening of the gates of hell. About 9 or 10 minutes into EP2, heavy stabbing beats begin while hellish reverb-cloaked guitars menace over atmospheres and synths that add a magnitude of anxiety that can be bitten into and ravaged upon like the victim of a rabid wolf. The real crushing treat comes in when the all-so-disturbing and crushing song “Bleeding” starts. Every thing collapses when this song starts and that which has been collapsed then becomes digested by the churning stomach acid that is hell. After this menacing and horrific 5:44 ends, it is as if the sound of physical suffering has finally finished and we are left with the sound of mental anguish; a whole new level of suffering. Necro Deathmort leave us with a suffering that can never be relieved because Necro Deathmort is hell’s playground, and the Devil always wants to play.
Encircling Sea – A Forgotten Land (Melbourne, Australia) 2014
Most of the time, simple is better, and if you can master simplicity while being creative and emotive, then why not make it into something immense. Encircling Sea is a post-black metal band that have achieved exactly this with A Forgotten Land. While the album is not breaking new grounds it does deliver the heaviness and atmosphere. The riffs, while simple, are quite catchy, beautiful, and mesmerizing. The vocals are very much crushing and straight forward, as are the drums. There are some alluring clean female vocals that shift throughout A Forgotten Land and add a shoegazy element to Encircling Sea‘s sound. A Forgotten Land is great album to listen to if you are in the mood for something heavy but also want something you can get lost in. This is a band to definitely keep an eye on.
The Dead Mantra – Nemure (Croix-Gazonfière, France) 2014
French gregorian shoegaze is what The Dead Mantra claim to play. It’s not a bad description, honestly. I can see where they got the idea as I listen to Nemure. The whole album sounds like it was recorded in a cathedral that has a ceiling tall enough to reach Mars. The vocals are soaked in so much reverb that they are practically an instrument. You can hardly make out much of what is being sung except for some of the song titles. The fact that you can’t understand much is irrelevant, though, because The Dead Mantra are more about the towering atmosphere and REVERB. Much like the vocals, the instruments are cloaked in thick reverb which sometimes can sound like a blur, especially during the louder parts of the album. Nemure ends perfectly with a beautiful and soul shattering song called “Soulless” (My favorite song). The song builds up with a shrieking guitar riff that explodes into despairing vocals that scream loudly as if they want to cut through the thick wall of reverb but ultimately cannot. The guitars become thicker and the drums become heavier as the song progresses. When Nemure ends you are left in silence in a space of desolation with your ears ringing and your body trembling. The production on this may be reverb excessive to some, but I feel that it is perfect for what The Dead Mantra are attempting. The Dead Mantra are masters at constructing the perfect atmosphere that fits their depressing style of post-punk desolation.
This album is meant to be played loud, so turn up the volume and get doomed. I highly recommended The Dead Mantra to fans of A Place to Bury Strangers.
Ghost Marrow (Aurielle Zeitler) – untitled (Sacramento, California) 2012
Ghost Marrow is a solo project that Aurielle Zeitler, former singer of doom metal band Giant Squid, started 2 or 3 years ago that I have recently and fortunately had the pleasure of discovering. Aurielle Zeitler‘s soft and mournful voice is absolutely cold and seductive. While listening to her you should see the steam coming from your mouth gradually getting thicker as the room you are in becomes colder and colder. Slowly your surroundings begin to get frost on them, and the light becomes no more. Coldness and darkness is only left, and her gossamer voice haunts your mind as you begin to hallucinate and slowly die from hypothermia and grief. As the album approaches its climax, a ghost appears in front of you asking for your hand. Your frozen eyelids begin to crack as you forcefully try and close them tight; this ghost is something you do not want to believe in seeing. Just as the album ends the ghost cloaks you in itself and drags you to hell. So go ahead and give into the darkness and be dragged to hell, because you won’t be able to resist the Devil’s bait that is Ghost Marrow.
