The debut of French Way to End is an apocryphal, depressive work of torment, weaving patterns of hypnotic discord like an abyssal spinster, each thread revealing a morbid, hidden delight. Imagine a slower, more restrained alternative to Deathspell Omega, and you may begin to understand what this band is creating. Desecrated Internal Journey is an apt title, as this album carries enough emotional moments to catalyze your regrets and impart a morose sorrow. In other words, a great chance to sip some absinthe and mourn your life and the world.The riffing is somewhat complex, in that it rarely settles into a repetitious pattern: that would only lighten the unease that Way to End is attempting to establish. The dark ambient intro "Facing the Abyss" gives in to a saloon-like piano, before the bristling of "A Step Into the Void", which begins to unravel the psyche with its wandering bass lines, and the creepy but entertaining riffs which conjure a subtle and shining atmosphere of futility. This feeling never lets up through the remainder of the album; through the glorious pomp that christens "At the Threshold" to the album's largely acoustical, instrumental send-off "No Dreams". A full 40 minute trip into the misery and limits of the flesh, the bruising of the soul and the taunting of failed youthful dreams.
Desecrated Internal Journey has an expressive mix which captures the voluminous swell of its backing vocals amidst the broiling guitar chaos and haunted rasp of Hazard. The bass playing is superb for this band, creating a substrata of inescapable horror that will swallow any who decide they want to 'burrow out' of the album's terrifying recollections. This is a different kind of 'depressive' than the bathroom mixing majority of bands who claim the title; it is professional, and pandering, and ready to kill anyone who crosses its path.
Highlight: finding that I still had a pulse after exposure to this album.
Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]
http://www.myspace.com/waytoendmetal
No comments:
Post a Comment