Sunday 14 July 2013

On Pain Of Death - Year Naught Doom


Following on from yesterday's Plague Survivors review. I thought I'd write about the second Dry Cough tape release. This one features Irish doomster On Pain of Death. On Pain of Death begun in 2008. They released a self-titled demo that same year, before recording an EP which hasn't yet seen the light of day. Year Naught Doom is their latest release.

Tracklist:-

1. Year Naught Doom
2. Tell Your God To Ready For Blood
3. It Came From The Bog

Irish doom/sludge seems to be really gaining momentum at the moment (well as much as doom/sludge can!). Bands like Drainland and Wreck of The Hesperus have been churning out some great material of late and On Pain Of Death have now joined party. Year Naught Doom is terrifying mix of groove-laden doom and black metal atmospherics. All three tracks are in excess on ten minutes, with the opening track kicking things off in debauched style. This is no instant, mass-fashion crap but instead its honest music that will scare off anyone who thinks that Bring Me The Horizon are the heaviest band ever. The title tracks winds on at a snails pace, with extended bass-heavy instrumental sections and dual high/low growls. Musically there's also some subtle melody amongst the dank, menacing tones.

There is no gap between songs either so as Year Naught Doom grinds to an ever-slowing halt, it flows straight into Tell Your God To Ready For Blood. This song is even more meandering, with it taking two and a half minutes for On Pain of Death to build up to the vocals. The drums are the most prevalent instrument here, with the bass and guitars being more infrequent. It sounds way more evil than the opener did, which is quite a feat. The pace does start to quicken mid-way through, but even then you wouldn't call it fast. The subtle use of the Flange pedal also generates some treble, which when set back against the low body of the music, gives it that extra edge and even a slightly jazz-orientated element.

On Pain Of Death end proceedings with their most epic track, It Came From The Bog. It's seems like an ode to the very town they rose from. The band begins to groove but before they can get any momentum, they stop things and only allow the buzz of the bass to be heard. This repeats for nearly a minute before they launch into the song proper. As I listen to the minimalist music in the background, it's the drumming that impresses me the most. It has that ability to send you into a trance. It's really hard to imagine the skewed vision and the creative process of bands like On Pain of Death, as any normal person couldn't comprehend the process they'd have to go through to write music like this, but then again they wouldn't understand.

Three songs in just over forty minutes is no mean feat and listening to it requires a lot of attention from the listener. I've also thought of doom and funeral doom to be the most challenging extreme metal sub-genres, but this is genuinely easy to listen to. As I mentioned in my opening paragraph above, this isn't for posers or fair-weather metal fans. This is a serious album for serious riff worshipers. If you're not one, it'll find you out and it'll make an example of you.

Sink yourselves into further despair by listening to Year Naught Doom in it's entirety here:-



The tape is limited to 100 copies and can be purchased from the above bandcamp page.

Dry Cough Records also has an online store here, where you can buy this tape and the Plague Survivors tape as a special bundle. There is also free shipping yo anywhere in the world on both tapes - http://drycoughrecords.bigcartel.com/.

On Pain of Death Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/onpainofdeath
Dry Cough Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DryCoughRecords

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