The most interesting releases of the week!
Canvas is the newest release from the relatively young death metal group Mors Verum, released on Transcending Obscurity Records. The album clocks in at about 30 minutes, but the twisting paths that the songs take make the listening experience feel longer. The production on Canvas gives the album a grimey sheen, which nicely contrasts with the varying orchestration nicely. There are times that Canvas swerves into Ulcerate territory with bending guitar distortions echoing over blast beats. Other times, you get a softer, mellower Gorguts. But Mors Verum contrasts these influences with sparsely-written moments that give depth to the overall release.
The vocals blend in well on Canvas. Often they sound as if they’re rising out of or receding into a veil of guitars, and there’s not always a noticeable shift into an instrumental passage. Mors Verum take some from the dingier strain of technical death metal and they take some from doom metal, and the resulting blend leaves a satisfying memory once the album ends.
Slow Death is a claustrophobic metallic hardcore EP in the emotional tradition of Converge. Ablaze write tracks that are a bit more straightforward than their most obvious influences, with nothing on here touching Jane Doe or We Are The Romans in terms of sheer chaos. But the simplified songwriting approach allows Ablaze to dig into their ideas and leave the listener feeling like there was nothing left that could have been said. The harsh guitar effects match well with the scattered drumbeats to give a feeling of music that’s just barely hanging together.
My biggest complaint with Slow Death is that the verses sound too similar from song to song. While Ablaze write captivating riffs, it sounds as if they fall back to familiar comforts when the vocals come on. Still, Slow Death is an energizing experience. Ablaze wrote something familiar and then let their performances fray the edges, resulting in an emotionally satisfying experience.
Remorse of Conscience is the debut full-length release from unsigned band Agenbite Misery. Sludge is the foundation of Agenbite Misery‘s sound, but it doesn’t do them justice to leave it at that. There are plenty of ambient moments, progressive, and hardcore influences on Remorse of Conscience. Sort of like if Amenra had a nervous breakdown in the same cluttered room as Esoteric. My biggest issue with the album is that sometimes the transitions from one passage to another are too abrupt and leave me spinning as a massive wall of sludge suddenly turns into an exploratory mellow tune. This sounds as if it’s intentional, but the way these transitions are implemented just takes me out of the music rather than evoking an emotional or intellectual response.
Other than that, Remorse of Conscience is just jaw-dropping. This album was apparently based on James Joyce’s Ulysses, but I haven’t read the book and can’t understand the lyrics anyways, so if that affects your listening experience beyond the guidance it gave to the band in their writing and performances, good for you. This isn’t an easy listen, and it’s not something you’re going to put on at the gym. Agenbite Misery made an album to listen to in a dark room with nothing else going on. The long tracks especially grow and morph and twist over ages. Remorse of Conscience is exhausting, but it’s worth it.
