By:
Ernesto Aguilar
Album Type: Full length
Date Released: 20/10/2017
Label: Profound Lore Records
With "Mirror
Reaper," the music conveys the reflection back of life and of death;
literally that the Grim Reaper is a facsimile of the cycle of life. As with
anything Bell Witch, though, such a realization is
not engaged with in a fashion that rips at the pain of loss or terror, but
rather builds into a deeper, though no less excoriating, meditation on the
passage of time
"Mirror Reaper"
CD//DD//LP track listing
1.
Mirror Reaper
The Review:
The
spastic beauty of doom is its blithe but authentic rejection of protocol, even
in metal, which itself defies popular music at every turn. Doom is storied for
its winding, intricate songs. Doom feels brainier (or nerdier) than what you
anticipate, with the number of concept albums about esoterica, space or obscure
literature, mythology or history very likely disproportionate to the rest of
the genre. And, in the immortal words of Beyonce, when others say speed it up,
doom just goes slower.
There
is something so beautifully faithful and just-don't-give-a-fuck about that
investment in one's own imagination. We all say we'll be artists, but how many
of us truly stay that way and how many unconsciously try to fit into the molds
we're presented? You may adore thrash metal's technique, grindcore's brief injections
of aggression and death metal's roar, but you love doom for being what it is.
It simply lurches on, siring even denser progeny such as funeral doom,
mainstream acceptance and fake love be damned.
2017
needs Bell Witch. In a year where conflict, culture
and politics seem bigger and bigger, the Seattle band's new "Mirror Reaper" feels fitting.
It is exactly one track, 83 minutes, 16 seconds in length.
An
entire album being a single track is unusual, but not unheard of. Olympia black
metal outfit Fauna released the 63-minute "The Rain" in 2006 and then "The Hunt" in 2007, with its
only song showing out at nearly 80 minutes. Chicago doom metal act Bongripper debuted in 2006 with its "The Great Barrier Reefer" concluding at just a bit over
79 minutes on the clock. A few other bands, such as Japanese metal collective Boris and Finnish folk metal group Moonsorrow,
have done multiple epic songs well into the 50-minute range. Bell Witch itself is no stranger to such a mystique. Its
2015 release, "Four Phantoms,"
came in at four cuts and around one hour, with two songs wrapping at 22 minutes
apiece. However, as they say in the lad mags, size does not matter. You're
listening for whether "Mirror Reaper"
can bring you this uncurbed promise, and deliver.
Bell Witch has few peers in funeral
doom. Chances are Bell Witch is why you
listen to this music in the first place. 2011's "Longing" is still praised as one of the great albums in
the field. "Four Phantoms"
has been called one of the subgenre's best recordings ever. In 2016, 36-year-old
Adrian Guerra, the group's founding member as well as drummer/vocalist, died
suddenly. His shadow over "Four
Phantoms" and formulation of the Bell Witch aesthetic is
long. One has to ponder how much Guerra's contributions may leave a hole in the
band's return since his passing.
Mixed
by Billy Anderson, who's done production for Neurosis
and Sleep (coincidentally, Anderson worked on
the California performer's 63-minute "Dopesmoker"
in 2003), "Mirror Reaper"
is planted in etymology related to the words of Hermes Trismegistus, the Greek
representation of Hermes and Thoth, and the Hermeticism on which said writings
are based. Trismegistus' Emerald Tablet, believed to have been composed between
the sixth and eighth centuries, forwards core Hermetic philosophy. The Emerald
Tablet would influence Renaissance alchemy as well as the thinking of C. S.
Jung and Isaac Newton. For "Mirror
Reaper" an Emerald Tablet concept, brought forward in Newton's
translation and that in "Aureliae Occultae Philosophorum," is woven
throughout. The idea of 'as above, so below' is one of duality – sun/moon,
life/death and so forth. Driven by such grandiose ideas – which have literally
occupied thousands of books, faith practices and hearts – it should not be all
that shocking that "Mirror
Reaper" is what it is.
Bell Witch has explored the visage of
ghosts, life and death throughout its career. Consistently the band has taken a
more cerebral approach in these themes. With "Mirror Reaper," the music conveys the reflection back of
life and of death; literally that the Grim Reaper is a facsimile of the cycle
of life. As with anything Bell Witch, though, such
a realization is not engaged with in a fashion that rips at the pain of loss or
terror, but rather builds into a deeper, though no less excoriating, meditation
on the passage of time. Under Anderson's hand, as well as the support of vocalist
Erik Moggridge, what could become a bloated, verbose exercise in something this
ambitious becomes an achievement.
The
arrangement of the piece takes subtle and yet exquisite turns. The transition
from the 24th minute to the 32nd minute or so; minute 55 into the hour; and the
song's final 10 minutes are among funeral doom's best examples of plangency. In
a touching tribute, the late Guerra lives on in the form of previously unused
vocals from the "Four Phantoms"
sessions included in a movement within "Mirror
Reaper." Such is perhaps one of the most wrenching parts of the song
because it takes the metaphysical storytelling out in favor of real life and
real death. The new core duo of founding member Dylan Desmond and drummer Jesse
Shreibman include Guerra honorably. They also make it clear in "Mirror Reaper" that Bell Witch is prepared to start a new, compelling chapter.
"Mirror
Reaper”
is available here:
