Album
Type: Full Length
Date
Released: 22/5/2012
Label:
Seventh Rule
Formed
in early 2008, STONEBURNER is a down-tuned metal band from Portland Oregon, the
members of which are and were involved in Buried At Sea, Buried Blood, Heathen
Shrine, Hideous Infant, and Scourge Schematic.
Throughout their pained existence, they've shared stages with Saint
Vitus, Buzzoven, YOB, Nachtmystium, and more (and are clearly no strangers to
high-profile gigs!).
As the
band themselves say, "We are
influenced by a love for all forms of extreme music as well as the trials and
stresses of life, and it has been our goal from day one to combine these
elements into the heaviest of riffs, with deeply personal lyrics. We’ve found
throughout our lives that music is the finest form of dealing with the pain,
frustration, and drudgery of our meagre existences…if we didn’t have this band,
functioning day to day would be almost unbearable. Finally, after four years,
we feel that we’ve recorded some shit that does justice to our live intensity,
engineered and mixed with the help of our brother in arms Fester (Mongoloid
Village, Burials). We are pleased to have Seventh Rule release our debut
full-length album, Sickness Will Pass.”
I would describe their sound as thick blackened sludge doom.
Line up
is
Jesse
McKinnon – Drums, Vokills
Damon
Kelly – Bass, Vokills
Elijah Boland –
Guitars
Jason
Depew – Guitars
Tracklisting:
1).
Christian’s Charity 6:00
2).
Marriage 7:15
3). Run
Boy... 6:40
4).
Elesares 8:38
5). We
Have Failed 5:55
Total
Running time: 34:46
Have
you ever seen the movie Hellraiser,
the excellent British horror movie? The
premise of the movie is about a puzzle box, which can open a portal to a realm
of new carnal pleasures. Instead, it opens up a portal to the realm of the
"Cenobites," who take people as prisoners and subject them to
extreme, sadomasochistic torture. Sickness Will Pass reminds me of that
movie, because this record is that puzzle box and once you push ‘start’, the
listener is subjected to an explorative cerebral experience so extreme that it
transcends the boundary between pain and pleasure. The record is like an atomic weapon, with the desired effect being an explosion
of music, intent on destroying all that stands in its path; to the very core of
the earth.
Christian’s Charity is a ferocious
opening, the colossus that is the opening burst of sound is like a sonic boom, an explosion to the senses,
with a public health warning decree from the band to ‘Please, make yourself scarce’? The song is incredible, sitting
somewhere between the sound of Yob and remission era, Mastodon. It is a song of unparalleled density, the
riffs are beautifully disgusting, it is as if the band is intent on turning the
thumbscrew, until you surrender. In
truth this song and indeed the album feel like a torture test, begging the
question. Is this a puzzle box you wish
to open? Despite the pummeling riffs, discordant
bass and the gut spewingly psychotic Djinn like vocals, the song is layered with
variety too, but remains volatile and savagely malignant, until a minute from
the end when they tone things down to a moment of acid fused psychedelia.
Marriage begins with an almost processed
chugging guitar riff, perhaps enhanced by the use of flanger? You can hear the
two guitars in unison. Then we’re back
to the heaviness of the scarifying riffs, this is certainly not a marriage made
in heaven. Essentially an instrumental track,
showcasing the awesome musicianship of the band, the song is structured around
the opening riff, with slight variations, until around 2:30, when things are
slowed down to that trippy post metal psychedelic breakdown, with clean sliding
notes from bass and guitar, then we’re back to black bile spewing vokills and
the booming sickening din of the riffs, till we’re back to the opening riff,
further augmented by an unorthodox almost C.O.C lead guitar with squealing
pinched harmonics.
Run Boy...starts with the fade in of
drums, leading into a two minute grooving instrumental passage, Neurosis
esque in tone, and then you’re hit like a fist in the face by the prerequisite pummelling
riffs; based around a terrifying chord progression of which Mike Scheidt would
be proud, this track for all intents and purposes is another instrumental track. The listeners ears are then lacerated by the piercing
sound of a March Of The Fire Ants type
riff in tone, at 4:40 the vokills are back in with vehement fury and then we’re
subjected to a further barrage of filth.
The final 2 minutes of song, engages the kill switch , with loathsome
revulsive intent and begs the questions, ‘Do you ask the Djinn for a wish to
end this torture?
If you’ve
chosen to continue, Elesares is up
next and the penultimate noisome, offensive to the point of arousing disgust,
it’s 8:36 of virulent toxicity, with a predominant thrash like galloped riff
for much of the song, interchanged with a slow sludgy dirge, it is another
startling example of consummate sardonic perfection. The track feel like a game from the Saw
movie, trapping the listener to test their will or resolve to
live through physical or psychological torture, with the reward being your
life.
We have Failed is the final lysergic acid test, with the band seemingly intent on inducing the
derangement of your personality, before your return to normal social functioning. If you thought that the track was going to
ease of the vituperation, then think again.
The track is as abhorrent as the first note of the album. It is possibly the most intricate song on the
album, opening with an exchange of heavy chords, hammer offs, slides and
deafening chord progressions, it is a measure of the band that they remain inventive
till the end. At 1:43 they slow things down again to an eerie, almost horror
movie inspired soundscape. Then for the last
decisive minutes of the record, the band end things with one final sneering and
derisive outpouring of morally objectionable dirt. The sickness has passed.
Sickness Will Pass is an ugly, visceral
and truly terrifying beast of an album. It sounds monumental and is herculean
in scale and is the benchmark of which all future releases will be judged. It is quite possibly the ultimate sludge
metal album of the year. I urge you to buy this album, you will not be disappointed.
The album is released on 22/5/2012 and will be available through Seventh Rule Records. I'd like to say a big thank you to Jesse McKinnon for helping me with the bio for thr band and also Catharsis PR. Most of all, thanks to the band for giving this blog the opportunity to review this truly brilliant record. Hopefully it will get the recognition it deserves. Check the links below for info on the band.
Listen to Christian's Charity Below.
![[EP] Grave Full of Weed cover art](http://f0.bcbits.com/z/20/12/2012428105-1.jpg)
