Monday 27 July 2015

Dead Existence - 'Endless Misery' (Album Review)



‘This is sludge/doom at its most painful, misanthropic and unforgiving. Some would say it's a bit long as it is an epic journey of soul crushing proportions and if you're thinking that, you're missing the point of it; the title is 'Endless Misery' after all’


Album Type: Full-Length
Date Releaed: 04/04/2015
Label: Black Bow Records

‘Endless Misery’ CS//DD//LP track listing:

1). Consume
2). End Devoured by Beginning
3). ....
4), Worthless
5). Tear Apart The Veil
6). Obsidian Black
7). Delusion of Hope
8). Regretamine

Review:

Ooh this is a bit tasty! Dead Existence has been plugging away at the underground sludge/doom scene since 2004 and have made many a venue crumble to dust. 'Endless Misery' is their first full length since 2007's self titled self release and is 8 tracks of sheer misanthropic, unmitigated filth.

We start off with 'Consume' with its Celtic Frost like opening riff veering off into Crowbar territory while vocalist Jake bellows about how meaningless your existence truly is. Things get more atmospheric for 'End Devoured by Beginning' as the clean/reverbed guitars play the opening notes before the heavy, sledgehammer like riffs pummel everything in earshot and the slower closing section wears you down like the Project Mayhem initiation scenes in Fight Club. After the brief interlude of the 3rd track it's back into relentless, punishing sludge for 'Worthless' which has some great double pedal work from drummer (and former bassist) Max. It's clear Jake is angry at the world as he shouts more discouraging phrases and anti humanist slogans. Brutal, nasty stuff indeed.

Next is 'Tear Apart The Veil' and it's dissonant, hardcore style riffs that bleed away as the bass plays a slower, claustrophobic pattern before the guitars join back in for some more Crowbar worship. 'Obsidian Black' starts with some nice 3/4 beat action to get heads wind milling and is a highlight for me personally. The riffs slow down towards the end and the guitars use some different tones and effects pedals to make it all the more miserable before it fades out into noise/ambient/spoken word piece 'Delusion Of Hope'. Finally we get the dying beast of the final track, the superbly titled 'Regretamine'. This song is an epic, painful crawl through self loathing, akin to starving yourself to death. The 13 minutes have enough interesting changes to keep the listener involved but man, it's hard to listen to without wanting to off yourself!

This is sludge/doom at its most painful, misanthropic and unforgiving. Some would say it's a bit long as it is an epic journey of soul crushing proportions and if you're thinking that, you're missing the point of it; the title is 'Endless Misery' after all

Words by: Chris Bull

‘Endless Misery’ is available here

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