Release
date: October 16th 2015. Label: Rise Above Records. Format:
CD/DD/Vinyl
With
The Dead – S/T – Tracklisting
01.
Crown of Burning Stars
02.
The Cross
03.
Nephthys
04.
Living With The Dead
05.
I Am The Virus
06.
Screams From My Own Grave
Band
Members:
Lee
Dorrian - Vocals
Mark
Greening - Drums & Concussion
Tim
Bagshaw - Guitar & Bass
Review:
People
shouting and rushing around amidst the confusion. Who is this poor
gentleman that has staggered into my place of work and collapsed?
We
clear a space, asking startled and frightened patients to take a seat
and let him breathe as we slowly make our way towards the crumpled
figure, slumped on the floor by the reception desk.
Who
is he? What's caused this? And why is he here?
It's
the postman. And he's been crushed by the sheer heaviness of the
shiny new With The Dead record he's just hand delivered to me.
So
much has been already said about this band that's barely a year old,
just released their first music and have yet to set foot on stage
together. There's a lot of hype (which is a fucking awful word by the
way) about the members of WTD. Dorrian, Bagshaw and Greening. (I'm
not going to list past CV's as I will assume you have heard heavy
music before)
Expectations
are high. And does the record live up to those expectations?
Yes.
So. Much. Yes.
From
the moment the impossibly heavy opener "Crown Of Burning Stars"
smashes it's way into your life it's obvious that this is going to be
a special record for a lot of people. That familiar rhythm section
back together making proper heavy fucking riffs that certain other
doom bands (soap operas) would sell their Oxfam flares to be turning
out.
Tim
Bagshaw's disgustingly fuzzy riffs will make you feel dirty and
uncomfortable and latch onto you unwilling to let go. Mark Greening's
massive tom fills sound, well just fucking massive! And then there's
the vocals. For me the thing that put me off Cathedral were the
vocals. This is unmistakeably Lee Dorrian singing over these, but
this time his voice sounds more real. More feral. Just more. And I'm
a convert now.
2nd
track "The Cross" keeps the momentum going and features a
great outro with some lovely guitar harmonies and samples presumably
straight from a 70's horror movie.
"Nephthys"
features more of those wicked guitar/bass harmonies and proves Tim
Bagshaw can do more than just produce bowel troubling heavy riffs and
features a catchy chorus which if I'm honest I wasn't expecting from
this record.
"Living
With The Dead" opens with another truly creepy sample "You
see I can't help you. I'm dead. Aren't you?" before the chorus
erupts, with another hulking great riff that seems to slow down as it
progresses as Lee bellows the title over the cacophony beneath him.
"I
Am Your Virus" is a personal favourite of mine. The track got
briefly published on YouTube so you may have heard it before it was
taken down. (I think it was leaked after a radio play of the track)
It's a bristling and confident track which has a swagger and groove
to it that maybe you wouldn't expect on a record like this.
"Screams
From My Own Grave" opens with just drums. You can hear those
trademark 30" cymbals ringing out awash with reverb and just
before the minute mark the track kicks in. This is proper doom right
here. Slow, monolithic riffs and more of those almost tortured vocals
as the track and album crawl towards their conclusion. As the track
starts to fade away, a Hammond organ makes an appearance and some
truly fucking horrific sampled (I hope) screams resonate in the
background as the guitars and bass give way to feedback and we're
done.
I've
already seen some people saying they're not that keen on With The
Dead, or that they don't get the fuss about them. Some probably
because it's "cool" to knock what is perceived as the next
big thing and some because they're just not into it. And that's fine.
Because music is subjective and we all like what we like.
For
me though. With The Dead very much deserve the praise and attention
that has surrounded them. This
is as heavy as anything else I've heard from this trio (or any other
bands for a while for that matter) and there were clearly some demons
exorcised here.
Between
them they have released some truly landmark albums in the genre and I
think they may have just gone and done it again. To borrow a phrase
from the old guard......
Fuck
Weak Doom.
Words
by Simon Ross Wililams
With
The Dead is available to buy on CD/Vinyl from Rise Above Records
now. Read our interview with Mark Greening that Simon did recently.
Links:
