Album
Type:
Album
Date
Released:
20th
January 2015
Label:
Mass
Salvation Recordings
As
The Dark Clouds Swept Away We Could See The Sunset – Track Listing
1.Dirt Bodies
2.The Dark Clouds
3.Their Blank Stares
4.Wounded
5.Illusion
6.Poverty Will
Spread
Bio
Current &
ex-members of Fuck The Facts, Winters In Osaka, The Sun Through A
Telescope, Mekhaya and Black Oak Decline come together to create dark
and haunting atmospheres, with heavy droning guitars driven through
walls of noise. Simple and subdued.
releases:
Solar Pulse (2013)
Breathe Electric
(2013)
Fault of Air/Breathe
(2012)
Snake Charmer/Towers
(2011)
Members
Mélanie Mongeon -
vocals
Seb Choquette -
guitar, additional percussion
Topon Das - bass,
samples
Leigh Newton -
drums, vocals, budda machine
Review:
Merdarahta
is an Ambient/Noise/Doom/Sludge Metal Collective specialising in dark
and brooding nightmarish soundscapes with hidden depth lurking in the
background. I've featured Merdarahta on the blog a few times now and
I consider myself a major fan of them. You need to be in a certain
mood to listen to Merdarahta's music as their music is very
uncompromising and where anything goes especially with
experimentation.
Merdarahta's
new album - As The Dark Clouds Swept Away We Could See The Sunset –
is a 30 minute ambient driven effort full of hidden meaning and dark
violent musical imagery. There isn't a set musical structure as such
just the band unleashing violent outbursts of noise that defies logic
at times. Opening track – Dirt Bodies – is an ambient and filth
ridden affair with the band exploring industrial based doom/drone
soundscapes with violent noises rattling in the background.
Merdarahta demand your full attention as this album is an intelligent
and thought-provoking ride into the industrial wastelands of the
human psyche.
Second
track – The Dark Clouds – adds haunting and indecipherable vocals
that are full of pain of misery. Merdarahta also start adding hints
of straight-forward sludge/doom guitars against the disturbing
musical backdrop currently tearing through the atmosphere.
Third
Track – These Blank Stares – carries on the distorted
experimental noisy based sounds Merdarahta created previously. This
sounds like the end to humanity itself as it feels like an industrial
based nuclear apocalypse coming to life. It's an uncompromising track
that left me feeling rather cold and angry with the world. The
ambient noises leave you feeling isolated and all alone where death
is only moments away. That's how it made me feel. Lets put it this
way – it's a dark and unforgiving song. Possibly one of
Merdarahta's bleakest songs and that is saying something.
Fourth
track – Wounded – is the albums more straight forward song as it
has a musical structure where people can recognise a beginning, a
middle and an end. It's still very experimental nature but it sees
Merdarahta create a more recognisable Doom/Sludge/Grind metal song to
find common ground with. Merdarahta add more distorted noises to keep
you on the edge of your seat.
Fifth
track – Illusion – is an ambient drone based affair that offers a
more jarring experience compared to the other tracks as the song has
a certain delirious and trippy mind-inducing vibe with elements of
soothing post-rock guitars appearing at the end that carries onto the
last song – Poverty Will Spread.
Poverty Will Spread – is Merdarahta in more reflective mood with Mélanie's heartfelt vocals being your musical guide against the slow-paced guitars. I've never heard Merdarahta play a song like this before. It's a soothing Post-Rock/Experimental/Drone affair which sees Merdarahta venture into more heartfelt musical territory before unleashing a final 90 seconds of pain and noise that will leave you stunned in silence.
As
The Dark Clouds Swept Away We Could See The Sunset is a beautifully
unforgiving album. It may not offer any easy answers but the journey
and destination of it all is a rich and rewarding listen you simply
cannot ignore this. This album is a haunting and violent nightmare
that I didn't want to end.
Brilliant
and Highly Recommended.
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks
to Topon Das for the promo. As The Dark Clouds Swept Away We Could
See The Sunset will be available to buy on DD/CD from 20th
January 2015 via Mass Salvation Recordings.
For
more information
