First job work out abysmal logo! Second try and see if there is actually a picture on the black on black sleeve art. Well the album is called No Light Behind and the answer to this is sort of, although to be fair it is a lot more noticeable on jpeg format. Luckily the music inside the package is a lot better than the limited design work and hard to read and slightly juvenile moniker the band have chosen. I guessed it would be fairly good as it is on Israeli label Total Rust who never really let serious doom heads down and also due to the fact that although a debut album there is calibre in the group’s ranks with members having served time in the likes of Bunkur, Funeral Goat, Planet Aids and Sauron amongst others. Yep these Dutchmen have been around.
Not really much more of an insight to give you here apart from describing the music itself. This starts with ‘Behold The Gods’ and with the Sabbathian riff laid down it is evident who these gods are. However it is no exercise in plagiarism, just a tip of the hat as things are about to get a lot uglier. Vocals are throaty and rasping and although they are on the whole higher rather than low and gruff they work well within the slow punishing riff work, crunching snares and occasional punch drunk guitar flurries. We are not exactly going anywhere fast, slothful and sluggish are good words to describe the pace as we ebb into ‘Dead Eyes’ which sees the vocals getting slightly more strident and elongated around the music. There is a fair amount of chilly atmosphere here too and a pretty bleak vibe is exuded from the more sparse and minimalist passage that follows. Suddenly we get to the point we knew was going to come, a fast gallop which lurches off with the vocals matching the pace and demanding a shambling head-bang.
The words, dawn, doom and dead work their way into the song titles and provide adequate description of what to expect as they shuffle along like the bastard zombies spawned by George Romero, overpowering by mass not speed. When they do overpower though the drums fly in a gory welter of skin and flesh and there is little help of not being consumed by things. Occasionally there is a bit of a blackened feel about things and the vocals are slightly reminiscent of Atilla Csihar. One thing that may not be expected is choice of cover, which being an old Goth I recognised instantly as The Sisters Of Mercy classic ‘Marian’. They do it justice too, taking the miserable focus and putting their own stamp on it admirably. All in all a good debut album and hopefully more will follow, I have seen the light!
http://www.myspace.com/abysmaldarkening
Pete Woods
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