Artist: The Death of Her Money
Title: You are Loved
Type: Album
Label: Slowburn

I like Cult of Luna very much. If they had an evil brother, it would be The Death of Her Money from South Wales. “You are Loved” has the same Post-Metal apocalyptic style but here there is very little quarter given for niceties or softer movement. There’s the occasional excursion into industrial territory or Doom. We’re frequently taken from the harsh wastelands into other worlds but what characterises this album the most is big-chorded gloom, hard driving rhythms and popping drums, accompanied occasionally but not always but not always by suitably angst-ridden screamed vocals. Yes, it’s a lot like Cult of Luna.

For maximum effectiveness, the style of this kind of work has to be relentless as if it stands in isolation from all outside influences and so it is with the opener “Held Hands”. “Enguelades” is equally steady but slower and more wistful. The guitar has a magnetic quality. “Missing Time” descends into Doom but not until it as sounded like the soundtrack to a sci-fi drama or film. There are seven tracks over 50 minutes. The longest and in my view the most atmospheric is “Truth” which lasts just over 10 minutes. The longer, the better …. We have more time to absorb the darkness and for the band to incorporate the gloomy messages into our psyche. This is the case with “Truth”. The opening four or so minutes are so deep and bereft of light that it entices us to do nothing but listen, contemplate and stare into space. It then descends into silence and is followed up with a section of quiet minimalism, building up in such a way as to envelop us. The heavy gloom continues to the final track, the appropriately titled “Tonality of Despair”. Insistent big chords carve out a dark rhythm. I even found myself humming along to it. To end, soundwaves of reverberation and chaos resound. This is nihilism at its best.

If the purpose is to sweep us into the big soundscapes, The Death of Her Money have succeeded. “You are Loved” is an album to be absorbed. I like it.

www.myspace.com/thedeathofhermoney
www.slowburn.ru
www.myspace.com/slowburnrecords