Pendulous-A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss

Self-Release/Independent
2015

Now signed to Baneful Genesis Records*, Pendulous** is a doom metal band from Los Angeles, California that was formed in 2011. Having shared the stage with the likes of Evoken, Bell Witch, Primitive Man, Windhand, Atriarch, and Mournful Congregation (among countless others) this popular (and frankly rather innovative) L.A. band made it's studio debut in 2013 with "Mirrored Confessions". That 21 minute EP was just the beginning for Pendulous though as nothing could have prepared fans and critics for an album like "A Palpable Sense Of Love & Loss"! At nearly sixty minutes(!) this is the kind of release a band like Pendulous needs in order to make the leap from local favorites to national treasure. With the addition of second guitarist Nicholas Rocha (Deathkings) and a expansive catalog of influences from which to pick and choose (everything from funeral doom to dark metal) the band's full-length debut has so much to offer for the discerning doom metal fan. We'll get to that bit shortly. First things first. Let's talk about the overarching sound of "A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss". The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by John Haddad at Trench Studios (Intronaut, Exhumed, Phobia, Abysmal Dawn, Hirax) and for Pendulous it's a near-perfect backdrop for the story that they wish to tell. To that end one simply couldn't ask for a better "storyteller" than lead vocalist E.R.M. (Eric Rezső Mendoza ). This former Dona Eis Requiem front-man moves effortlessly between clean and harsh vocals and with someone as all-capable as he is leading the way there's no telling just how far this band will go! With a surrounding cast of characters that makes all-encompassing death metal mood music for the doom metal minded this L.A. act is clearly on the rise. All of which brings us to this album. A lengthy spoken word intro opens things up on the appropriately-titled  "A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss" before the nearly nine minute(!) car-crusher that is "A Faltering Will" works it's way into the picture. It's not the longest track of the lot (as that would be "Closure" with it's run-time of 11:48!), but it does the job that it was hired to do and it does it oh so well. And that job would be slowing grinding the listener under the weight of it's overpowering and oppressive boot while sadly humming a melancholy tune! Sounds pleasant right? You bet your life it is! Much likes "40 Years" it's all about squeezing the most of the music while making sure that there is always one eye focused on the prize. Everything about "A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss" is aimed towards the bigger picture. It's the idea that doom metal can be miserable and menacing. It can be overpowering and naturally oppressive. It can crush it's enemy and bury it's bones under rubble. But that does not mean that it has to be pure noise. It can have structure and be well-conceived. "A Faltering Will" is heavy alright, but it's also full of purpose and it has it's own distinct charm. Then again so does "Hibernal Sun". Unlike "A Faltering Will" though it's not so much about death/doom as it is post-rock. It's a different side to this band and yet it fits perfectly with the overall atmospheric vibe that Pendulous was aiming for. The same can be said of "Pendant World". It's more in line with death rock, but it to fits a pattern that is started early on with Pendulous and their debut full-length and it's one that ends with the subtle, piano-driven beauty that is "Memoirs". Without a doubt this is one of the most compelling doom metal albums of 2015 as well as one of the most genre-splitting. Doom fans are going to want to check this album out.

*Independently-released, "A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss" is due to receive a special vinyl treatment thanks to Baneful Genesis Records.

**pen·du·lous adj \-ləs\
1 : poised with no visible support, or hanging downward.
3 : marked by vacillation (between polar opposites),and uncertainty. 

Penthos-Lifeless Haze

Self-Release/Independent
2014

Self-recorded and self-released, the four-track EP "Lifeless Haze" is the second overall demo from North Somerset-based Penthos. At just a hair over nineteen minutes (and most likely the very definition of a home recording project from a D.I.Y.-styled band* given A) it's authentic/earthy vibe and B) it's (highly beneficial come the end of the day) stripped to the bare necessities approach as far the production is concerned!) "Lifeless Haze" quickly and effective announces it's presence with opener "Black Death" while saving the strong title cut for last. Said opener comes across as a terrifying Mexican standoff between Slayer, Deicide and Morbid Angel and for Penthos, a UK-based heavy/death/black/doom outfit which was formed in the summer of 2010 by vocalist/bassist/guitarist Rich Alden (ex-My Silent Wake) and drummer Ross Thompson, that's just the beginning as far as what's in store on this underground/eighties-infused demo! With guitarist/bassist Ivan Sikic rounding things out rather nicely (line-up wise on this demo), Penthos, a band which wisely takes it's cue from (more then anything) both the late eighties/early nineties UK and American death metal scene, wages all out war on the bloody "Bodily Shut Down" before ripping off limbs with the semi-technical "From The Womb"! Even when Penthos attempts to "slow" things down on the title cut (a seven minute plus slab of gripping death metal doom!) it's still a frightening sight to behold making the raw "Lifeless Haze" a furious beast of a demo! For fans of primitive death metal one simply could not ask for a tastier little treat then this EP. And for those who are old enough to remember the good old days when tape-trading was a way of life a release like "Lifeless Haze", which admittedly does have a rougher outer edge then most self-releases of the death/doom variety, passes the taste and smell taste. This one has all the feel of a recently (re) discovered cassette demo from death metal's long-lost underground past! Since it doesn't pretend to be anything more then what it is and because "Lifeless Haze" is the true face of death metal I can't help but recommend this EP and thus Penthos to Heavy Metal Time Machine's more extreme readers!


* Co- founder/drummer Ross Thompson created the cover artwork for "Lifeless Haze" and the band logo while Ivan Sikic (rhythm and lead guitar/bass on this 4-song EP) is credited as far as the demo's actual recording is concerned.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Penthos/192106544137256

My Silent Wake-Silver Under Midnight

Bombworks Records
2013

Released on Bombworks Records (a subsidiarity of Retroactive Records, both of which specialize in Christian metal) last summer, "Silver Under Midnight", which was produced by Greg Chandler of Esoteric fame over the course of (only) four days(!), was the fifth full-length from the UK's My Silent Wake. Having just recently reviewed their sixth full-length release (the independently-released acoustic album, "Preservation Restoration Reconstruction" which you can read about here:http://metalmark.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-silent-wake-preservation-restoration.html) my curiosity was peaked for an electrified interpretation of this doom/death outfit with goth-rock overtones. Of course the electrified version of My Silent Wake is the day to day version/key operations of this band which resides on the South West side of England. And with June's "Silver Under Midnight" it's quite obvious that this doom/death has their "normal" sound down pat and man alive if it isn't on the lethal side of the spectrum! Opening with the brief instrumental number "Midnight", "Silver Under Midnight" finds My Silent Wake working with guests like the above mentioned Greg Chandler (also with Lychgate and formerly of ex-Pantheist (live) the album's producer does WONDERS here given the fact that he only had four days to record everything!) and Martin Bowes (Attrition) with their fifth full-length album running the gamut from a track like (album single) "The Last Man" (80's goth rock as interpreted by a nineties (heavy rock) doom band!) to doom thrasher "Wars" with numbers such as "Destroyer", "Oblivion" and "My Killer" showing off the ease in which band-founder Ian Arkley (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards and percussion) and companions Kate Hamilton (bass, dulcimer) and drummer Mark Henry are able to lay down FANTASTIC doom/death! After closing with the EPIC 14-minute plus "Third Season" My Silent Wake's "Silver Under Midnight" leaves you more then just satisfied. Rather this full-length studio album leaves you breathless! How an album like this one, which was recorded in only four, turned out this spectacular is mysterious. We're talking mere days here when album's which have taken years  to record pale in comparison, doom/death or not! How it is that My Silent Wake isn't more well-known is also a question, make that even larger mystery, in need of explanation. Especially as there is little here to suggest that My Silent Wake couldn't easily overtake the more talked about/marketed names in the doom/death scene! The natural ability of bandleader Ian Markey (as both a musician and a songwriter!) is evident as this album unfolds and if these seven tracks alone don't speak volumes as to unmistakeably strength that is at the core of this English band the clearly people need to check their hearing (and credentials!) at the door as this trio SLAYED with "Silver Under Midnight"! This my friends is everything I love about doom metal and death metal as performed by a highly creative and constructive metal act and had I covered this last year it would have been hard not to justify it making my top-ten list of album's of the year! Sure as it always rains in Ohio no matter the month or time of year I WILL be revisiting this album again and again in the weeks to come!