Post Description

ßÛ°    °Û²
   °  ÛÛ    ÛÛ     Artist: Whelm                                  ÛÛ    ÛÛ
   ²   Û°° þÛ       Album: A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as The Sun    Ûþ °°Û
   þ    Û²ß Û        Year: 2015                                    Û ß²Û   °
         Û  ²   Rel. Date: 2016-02-28                              ²  Û
        ±   ±       Genre: Metal                                   ±   ±
         ÛÜ °       Label: Aesthetic Death Records                 ° ÜÛ
      °   ÛÜ  °    Source: CD                                    °  ÜÛ
      °      Û²      Type: Album                                 ²Û        °
      ²       Û   Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo            Û   °     ²
      ²       Û                                                  Û   °     ²
      Ü       þ                                                  þ   ²     þ
            °Û                                                    Û° ß
            Û  If you’ve had to drag any boulders uphill lately,   Û
            Û  here is Whelm with your soundtrack. At first, I     Û
            Û  wasn’t sure how much I would like 'A Gaze Blank     Û
            Û  and Pitiless as the Sun'. But while the opening     Û
            Û  two songs are solid if unremarkable soundscape      Û
            Û  sludge, Whelm has more cards in hand than is        Û
            Û  immediately evident. Starting with “From the        Û
            Û  Trenches of Perception”, continual layers of added  Û
            Û  spice elevate the album into a memorable delight    Û
            Û  of wretchedness. 'Gaze' proves to be an             Û
            Û  impressively wide-ranging, windswept feast for the  Û
            Û  ears.                                               Û
            Û  As indicated by the title and album art, this is    Û
            Û  metal I would listen to in the miserable,           Û
            Û  oppressive heat of summer. Walls of harsh,          Û
            Û  overdriven guitars rise on all sides like a         Û
            Û  blinding desert wind, then withdraw, leaving me     Û
            Û  feeling that the storm hasn’t calmed, just off in   Û
            Û  the distance for a moment. All members of Whelm     Û
            Û  contribute their distinct voices, and the           Û
            Û  juxtaposition of several vocal lines in tandem      Û
            Û  sometimes suggests dialogue rather than monologue.  Û
            Û  The sound palette is fairly extensive, letting      Û
            Û  Whelm give the listener more harmony and            Û
            Û  dissonance with each cycle of motif, these often    Û
            Û  being delivered via a simple color-tone shift.      Û
            Û  Like the action-on-every-page of Joseph Heller's    Û
            Û  novel Catch-22, Whelm never lessened their grip on  Û
            Û  my attention.                                       Û
            Û  I especially welcomed the far-east influence that   Û
            Û  unexpectedly appears late in the album. These       Û
            Û  pieces combine with the panoramic doom environment  Û
            Û  to create an almost cinematic effect. It also       Û
            Û  helps give the album a sense of travel, beginning   Û
            Û  in one place and ending somewhere else.             Û
            Û  Fans of Unearthly Trance, Woods of Ypres, and My    Û
            Û  Dying Bride's early 2000s albums would do well to   Û
            Û  put 'A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as the Sun' on the   Û
            Û  headphones. Walk through narrow, deserted city      Û
            Û  streets out onto overgrown fields and hills, and    Û
            Û  let this album open up and swallow you into its     Û
            Û  maw.                                                Û
            ²                                                      ²
            ±                                                      ±
            °  1.  Tann Døkka Jørð                           2:23  °
            °  2.  The Brazen Bull                           4:40  °
            °  3.  From the Trenches of Perception           7:30  °
            °  4.  Perpetual Blindness                       5:14  °
            °  5.  Delphine la Laurie                       12:05  °
            °  6.  The Wrecked Orchestra                     2:24  °
            °  7.  Ghosts in the Undergrowth                 8:44  °
            °  8.  Event Horizon                            11:54  °
            °                                               54:54  °
         °  ±