Warground - Sorrowful Sounds of Emptiness (EP)

WARGROUND - Sorrowful Sounds of Emptiness
2013
Depressive Illusions Records

The title says it all. Sorrowful Sounds of Emptiness is the soundtrack for a season in damnation. It is gloomy, foggy, chilly, and static like a curtain of black heavy clouds that doesn't want to move away from the sun. However, this is not a doom, a funeral doom nor a black metal album, but a collection of plain atmospheric compositions.

It comes in an A5 dvd-case format, perfect to conjure the vastness of the music. Inside, we find three "songs" of 7 to 9 minutes that speak the same language. First song "Broken" is like a fall, a magnetic call of the Great Void, evoken by waves of keys/synth. It is monolithic, offering almost no variations and an unclear structure. Heavy yet vaporous, it brings the listener into a state of unbalance. "The Darkened Path of Sadness" follows, with a few reverberated notes in the dark, muffled by a veil of atmospheric long keys notes. The sky clears a bit, but only to discover that the sun is gone: it's nighttime, and it's cold. The trilogy of soundscapes ends with "A Land Taken by the Nothing", probably my favorite of the three compositions. Here we are presented with the essence of the title. We find a few delicate notes, gently laid like faeries corpses resting on fallen leaves. I would not qualify it as depressive, but rather as ominous because of the black atmosphere weighing on us through repetitive waves of keys.

In my book, an atmospheric album needs a lot of qualificatives. Sorrowful Sounds of Emptiness is what I would call a tunnel of emotions. These are monolithic and monochromatic creations. There is a limited range of instruments involved and the structures are relatively straightforward. When I listen to these songs, I feel absorbed into a vortex, but not drained of emotions, as if the songs are channels of thoughts rather than seeds of negativity. Constricted in the middle of the night, the songs capture something we do not exactly understand, something that has been morphed into sounds. In other words, Sorrowful Sounds of Emptiness is hypnotic and contemplative. Warground aptly says about its music: "There are those paths inside oneself that dare not be followed".

The 3 songs could have been soundtracks to heavier atmospheric metal tracks, or sublime outros on albums. Nonetheless, released together, the three soundscapes make an interesting ensemble.

Sorrowful Sounds of Emptiness comes as an interesting step in the Warground discography. The one-man raw black metal name has been in existence since 2012 and has two other releases already. Check these out as well, for they would appeal to fans of the raw depressive black metal cult entity Nortt. Overall, I find interesting to have a different look at Warground, and hear this exploration of sounds.

https://www.facebook.com/WargroundBand
http://depressiveillusions.com/

Loviatar - Druid's Curse (EP)

LOVIATAR - Druid's Curse
2013
Indie

Druid's Curse is the third installment in the Loviatar EP trilogy. About four months after the previous Widow's Flame and a year and a half after the Eternal Sons debut, we find another 3-songs cd, housed in a digi sleeve, with a similar layout, the same line-up, and a similar length. The least we can say is that Loviatar is consistent and approaches the construction of its EPs very seriously. Both on the visual and the musical point of view, Druid's Curse strenghtens very efficiently the band's discography, like an affirmation of its song writing and band imagery.

The fantasy continues: Loviatar's world rocks around mythical characters, as displayed by the beautiful artwork and the tracks' name.

The powerful "Curse of the Hamadryad" launches the journey with a thick wall of sound. All the instruments are burning hot and signal that we are in for a ride. The drum's skins are more silky and defined than before, the guitars have been pulled back a little bit in the mix, and there is a creamy coat of reverb tying them to the vocals' effects. Incredibly good and catchy for a post-metal / doom act, vocals are clean and upfront. The bass guitar makes use of a slight distortion and can be easily distinguished with its rich bottom and guitar picking, a sound and technique that reminds me of Mouth of the Architect, Cult of Luna and Buried Inside. It sometimes slides up and down, follows the bass drum chirurgically, or walks around like a punk rock band, adding interesting colors to the music. As for the guitars, they cover the rest of the spectrum, from left to right, from North to the South, with either atmospheric, piccolo, or straightforward playing.

The guitar work is probably best illustrated in "Elephant Graveyard", the second and instrumental track. While the bass gets clean and modest, the guitars take all the place available. They start with a few atmospheric, isolated notes, building gradually an emotive charge until it reaches its apex with lots of cymbals and chords, and dies again. When arrangements are this good, the music speaks for itself.

The doom gland is sollicitated anew on "Frost Druid", the third and last track of the EP. It has a few dragging and bluesy notes, some eruption into heavier post-metal, with bits of piccolo picking and sparks of hi-hat cutting through the reverb coating of the mix - all good ingredients to approach traditional doom while staying away from the depressive tone of it. This song is a direct dialogue with "Eternal Famine", the first song on the first EP: not only because of the doomy riffs, but also because of the "oh-oh-oh" chants. Positioned last on the EP, it is a clever reference addressed to those who have been following the band so far, coming full circle with Loviatar's EP trilogy.

Druid's Curse is 12 minutes well invested. There are no missteps, nothing is lacking, and nothing is redundant. It is without a doubt the best of the three Loviatar EPs; something you can spin any time, any day, without getting tired of it. It is also one of the best examples of Mike Bond's recording and production skills.

Druid's Curse is definitely one of the best Canadian metal EPs of 2013.

http://loviatar.bandcamp.com/album/druids-curse
http://loviatardoom.com/