INNUMERABLE FORMS : " Pain Effulgence '

This dark death doom band features members of Power Trip, Mammoth Grinder, Iron Lung, and a litany of underground metal acts. They have mastered a dark and oppressive sound, but once I am in the second song, I find myself faced with the question, Can these guys write a song. Just because they are from bands with a name, does that mean they were the songwriters for that band, or did they just show up and play their parts as required? There is no answer found in the second song, as they are trying to solidify a depressive mood. 

"Blotted Inside" finds that even after slowing down, they are a death metal band at heart. The low, heavily affected guttural nature of the vocals works at either tempo, though it feels more resonant in the more depressive drone they lock into. Melodic guitar lines flow around the steady pulse of darkness. "Dissonant Drift" is truth in advertising as the gurgle of the vocals bubbles under the atmosphere of trudge of doom. The pace is picking up into a more deliberate stomp by the end. Then they hammer back at you, going into " Ressentiment," it is punctuated by atmospheric fills of guitar, but largely moves like death metal until the guitar solo takes over. 

By "Overwhelming Subjection," things are starting to run together as the uniform sounds collide.  Guitar melodies can help to differentiate things if you are giving a close neough listen. This can be heard as 'Pain Effulgence." Everything sounds heavy and the guitar tone is as miserable as you want it to be, but it do get mired into a sound where the best moments of a band like My Dying Bride, who pulls this sort of mood off with more grace, or even a funeral band like Voken might be a fairer comparison., has more layers, these guys are just playing guitar well with little story to tell.  For that reason I am going to give this album an 8, excellent execution with not much to say, but for some fans of this genre, that is what they are looking for.Out on Porfound Lore 

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