Release Date: October 25th 2025. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD/Vinyl
No More Can Be Done - Tracklisting
1.The Passage 15:09
2.Ascension 04:40
3.Devastation Junkie (Bonus Track) 06:00
4.Shine On 06:22
5.Moribund 08:27
Member
Caitlin Mkhasibe - drums
Frank Lunar - bass
helo samo - guitar, vocals, sampling and textural noise.
Review
No More Can Be Done is the debut album from South African Drone/Doom/Noise/Post-Metal collective P+A+G+E+S and it’s quite a bleak, captivating and uncompromising affair with the band drawing upon a wide range of influences to conjure a dark musical odyssey which is quite violent for the best of times. There’s elements of Post-Rock and Ambient surroundings in places but P+A+G+E+S mostly dwell in the Drone and Post-Black Metal environments where their dark musical melodies fully take shape.
The twisted Noise/Drone Metal atmospherics feel fuelled by the stuff of nightmares and I can see influences such as NEUROSIS, SWANS, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, SUMAC and CONAN starting to emerge especially through the epic opening track The Passage. As P+A+G+E+S slowly drill into your sub conscience and find what scares you the most with long drawn out musical passages and distorted rhythms that’s buried under a ton of guttural noises and brutal vocals. The music is slow, brooding and darkly twisted with a slight Industrial Metal or Mechanical Doom energy starting to emerge. Things do appear faster with sublime samples and extended soundscapes for perhaps the most daring song on the whole album.
No More Can Be Done lasts for around thirty six minutes which is spread across five tracks and P+A+G+E+S do similar things or perhaps even greater damage on the shorter tracks. As they have less time to play with but P+A+G+E+S are always one step ahead of the listener by creating multiple dimensions of distorted DRONE and fucked up POST-METAL energy. This style of music overlaps with areas of Black Metal fury that’s grounded by thrilling Sludge Metal grooves which have real bite to them thanks to helo samo’s intense vocals and musical virtuoso playing on guitars, samples and textural noise.
Though, Caitlin Mkhasibe on Drums and Frank Lunar on Bass play their part by creating harsh rhythms and violent structures that dominate the musical landscape on the other standout tracks of Devastation Junkie and Moribund. The music may be bleak and experimental for some but this is my first exposure of Post-Metal from the South African underground scene and I absolutely adore the violent chaos and carnage that P+A+G+E+S create out of nowhere. The record can be downright mean and abstract in places but it’s also an highly addictive and aggressive style of Post-Metal which isn’t afraid to show it’s heavy reliance on the Extreme side of Atmospheric Sludge.
P+A+G+E+S do create deft touches of lovely sounding Ambient based Post-Rock interludes on the record mostly on second track Ascension which brings a loving RUSSIAN CIRCLES attitude into the mix. However, these moments are often short before the band returns to their highly destructive sound.
The fourth track of Shine On is where P+A+G+E+S impressed me the most by creating a world of Shoegaze dynamics that's populated by areas of Sludge Metal, Noise, Psych, Post-Rock and an unforgiving attitude where everything is played with a stripped back energy that is mostly down to the excellent production values.
Overall, No More Can Be Done is a highly captivating, superbly intelligent and fearless record to emerge from the South African underground HEAVY METAL scene. Check this out if you dig your Post-Metal on the more violent side of life and you’ll be richly rewarded with a highly original record that deserves to be heard by the biggest audience possible.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Plug Music Agency for the promo.
No More Can Be Done can be bought now on DD/Vinyl
Links
Instagram | YouTube | BandCamp
