Wednesday 11 November 2015

UN - The Tomb Of All Things (Album Review)


Release date: December 4th 2015. Label: Black Bow Records. Format: CD/DD

The Tomb Of All Things – Tracklisting

Epigraph
Sol Marasmus
Forgotten Path
Through The Luminous Dusk
The Tomb Of All Things

Band Members:

Clayton - Monte - David - Andrew

Review:

UN has provided a unique interpretation of death through sight and sound that allows you to find solace in that there is no eviction from your final home. They are the musical undertakers.

Fans of heavy music will rejoice in hearing some root similarities of a previous band, but this album stands on its own and flourishes in harvest bloom. The UN demos are very good, but this album is great.

This offering is slow, almost suspended in rendition, like a heavy earth moving bulldozer being operated by a dead priest over broken tombstones making rough terrain. This album will lower your heart rate, but still enthrall, as you discover the end and fade away. Is it too macabre to love this magnum opus of death? I don’t think so. Be brave and dim the lights, because there is a strong intelligence at work here.

It is strange how completely one denies what's around the bend, yet this band is here to provide the road signs to the dead end. It is more than just a gentle reminder that there is a connection to all things, and that all things pass on. This album captures a mood and a certain influence is omnipresent in this work. It offers freedom for the sceptic, because it is made from the sands of the hourglass and generates the glow for the mood ring that emanates logic over superstition. It is a pure release of power in knowledge and realization.

The album cover art is the perfect advertising for the music contained inside, but I will let you form your own opinions on the artwork and whether or not its depiction is that of an entrance or an exit to or from a dead world…

Now to the individual songs.

Epigraph - an instrumental capturing melancholic echoes of the regrettable past, wasted present, and unknown future. This provides spatial sadness and achieves disambiguation for the upcoming chapters. In short, it will clean your palette.

Sol Marasmus - this song consists of distorted pummels that unhurriedly clang in your ears and begin the return to waste process. The vocals are hoarse bellows with purpose in agony. The guitar solo is clean and precise, like a scalpel during an autopsy. A trance like interlude during the half way mark will prepare you for embarking on the remainder of your journey, like embalming fluid coursing through your veins for afterlife mummification purposes. You will later be exposed to dual vocals consisting of grief growls and human like screams. The end of this song creates images of corpse flowers and burning candles, visible through the smoke of funeral incense. This recorded heaviness will leave you dumbfounded; yet fully absorbed in this album’s entombed craftsmanship.

Forgotten Path - this track is powerfully pure and downtrodden. It is a large dirge that paints the picture of a barge that is essentially the portrayal of an expedition vessel that is arriving in the new world, but all on board are deceased. It is symphonic-like in composition, alternating between massive distortion and more subtle strums. This showcases the auditory architecture of anguish, heartache and ruin. The closing part is uplifting in its funerary honors. There is even a spoken word quote (Grand Inquisitor Silecio). This song is marvellous in its manifestation of desolation and triumphant in its commemoration of extinction.

Through The Luminous Dusk - This is sonic grace. It is a song constructed with crisp guitar work and an accompaniment of rumbling snarls. There is a slow and elegant softer section that will make you want to sit in an antique rocking chair and draw grandmother’s quilt over your old, knobby knees that continuously remind you of your final retreat. The guitar solo is undeniably of the old school heavy metal variety and it is absolutely awesome. This is an epic achievement that will grind you to your skeletal remains, encompass you in a brass urn, and place you endearingly over the mantle piece of the family fireplace. Brilliant stuff.

The Tomb Of All Things -The soft beginning builds up to the bursting release of devastation. There are cascading guitar melodies that are reminiscent of a tears generated waterfall and groans that could be from the sore throat of a suffering prehistoric man. The band shines and levitates your insides. The gentle reflection passage pierces your heart and then morphs into the fastest this album gets, not unlike the galloping headless horseman who soars to reach the ending of All Hallow Eve. This farewell song will leave you a trifle deaf as you observe the threshold of departure and get blasted by death trumpets and misery pipes. This is a majestic conclusion to a magnificently textured album.

This collection of music is not for the squeamish or faint of heart, but it is definitely required listening when you are ready to accept the experience. I can describe this form of art as a regal phantom in today's dull world.

Although this overall work evokes bleakness, you will find resolution and comfort in being uncomfortable. I wholeheartedly believe that this album is a successful experiment in the communication of spiritualism through music that may offer an introduction into the discovery of exodus regarding others and the recognition concerning the imminent loss of the self. UN provides spiritual vision and an enfolding message through this vibration in sound for those who wish to embark and make the inquiry. This album is a truly tremendous and necessary piece of work.

Welcome to your funeral, the guest book is through the polished mahogany door…

Words by Nick Palmisano

Thanks to Dewar PR and Black Bow Records for the promo. The Tomb Of All Things will be available to buy on CD/DD via Black Bow Records from December 4th 2015.

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