Does any other band embody the genre Funeral Doom as much to perfection as Bell Witch? And has any other Metal band from a niché subgenre ever transcended that subgenre - and Metal as a whole - so impressively, just by following its core idea to the fullest consequence?
No, I'm already not talking about the eighty-three-minutes masterpiece for eternity "Mirror Reaper" from 2017 any more, but about its successor, which can't even be properly compared to the game changer yet. Because while "The Clandestine Gate" is yet again one single song, curiously with the exact same colossal length, it is only the first part of a cyclic trilogy, which is intended to end at its beginning, so it can be played infinitely into eternity.
No, I'm already not talking about the eighty-three-minutes masterpiece for eternity "Mirror Reaper" from 2017 any more, but about its successor, which can't even be properly compared to the game changer yet. Because while "The Clandestine Gate" is yet again one single song, curiously with the exact same colossal length, it is only the first part of a cyclic trilogy, which is intended to end at its beginning, so it can be played infinitely into eternity.
BELL WITCH - Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate (2CD) (2023)
While this song/album utilizes more organs and analogue synthesizers, which can almost all be performed live by drummer Jesse Shreibman with his feet (as proven during the full album premiere at Roadburn), it's all in all a purer, more reduced work, since the duo doesn't repeat the trick of structuring it in two very distinct different parts - and it's also the first Bell Witch studio album without any clear guest vocals by Erik Moggridge (Aerial Ruin).
However the small line-up only shows through in the deliberately minimalistic quiet passages. But even then you would probably need the information that you're only listening to two people, just because how massive the sound gets, once they switch on all the heavy distortion and Dylan Desmond, the Cliff Burton of Funeral Doom exercises his signature style of performing both crushing chords and delicate haunting melodies simultanously on bass. I've never heard anyone asking "Where's the guitar?" while listening to Bell Witch. It had always be really spelled out for you that there just were none on their records. And "The Clandestine Gate" for sure won't break that trend.
If you are able to listen to this album and seriously think about elements which are missing, then it certainly isn't made for you. I'm positive that no minute here is wasted and enough is happening to always keep you engaged. You only have to accept that in this kind of Doom beyond Doom everything is happening slow. So slow in fact, that the rare vocals (both Shreibman's distant gutturals and Desmond's aethereal clerical clean voice) are hard to follow even with the lyrics at hand, just because it's hard getting your head around someone singing that adagio.
While this song/album utilizes more organs and analogue synthesizers, which can almost all be performed live by drummer Jesse Shreibman with his feet (as proven during the full album premiere at Roadburn), it's all in all a purer, more reduced work, since the duo doesn't repeat the trick of structuring it in two very distinct different parts - and it's also the first Bell Witch studio album without any clear guest vocals by Erik Moggridge (Aerial Ruin).
However the small line-up only shows through in the deliberately minimalistic quiet passages. But even then you would probably need the information that you're only listening to two people, just because how massive the sound gets, once they switch on all the heavy distortion and Dylan Desmond, the Cliff Burton of Funeral Doom exercises his signature style of performing both crushing chords and delicate haunting melodies simultanously on bass. I've never heard anyone asking "Where's the guitar?" while listening to Bell Witch. It had always be really spelled out for you that there just were none on their records. And "The Clandestine Gate" for sure won't break that trend.
If you are able to listen to this album and seriously think about elements which are missing, then it certainly isn't made for you. I'm positive that no minute here is wasted and enough is happening to always keep you engaged. You only have to accept that in this kind of Doom beyond Doom everything is happening slow. So slow in fact, that the rare vocals (both Shreibman's distant gutturals and Desmond's aethereal clerical clean voice) are hard to follow even with the lyrics at hand, just because it's hard getting your head around someone singing that adagio.
Yet the true mastership of Bell Witch doesn't lie in being technically able to perform this slow together and do it with a unique sound. Even though this already is a feat in itself, the most amazing aspect of this band is the songwriting. Their music has never appeared as the result of some dudes just jamming and putting tunes together, but rather like the application of the Classical idea of arranging huge movements. And it takes a great compositional overview to work like that in this scale.
When you're hearing the first minutes of "The Clandestine Gate" - nothing but very minimal organ - for the first time, you might experience it as a dragging intro. But in hindsight and from the second run on you should understand how integral this beginning is for the whole song by establishing the glacial pace and rhythm of the whole piece like the station scene in "Once Upon The Time In The West". Bell Witch aren't slow to bore or torture you, they are just moving tectonic plates and taking the time it needs to do so. And what other approach seems adequate for an album, which sounds like the score to the sorrowful doom of the whole world?
And regarding the solo organ: When it is revisited much later in the piece, it marks the pinnacle of anticipation, giving us a long breather before the most mountainous and majestic crescendo. By now you should have long found yourself onboard a vessel floating far beyond the regular perception of time, life and death.
The one single moment which is not perfect on "The Clandestine Gate" is the very end, when after a whole passage of calming down with a sole clean bass, the piece just stops without a satisfying resolution. But then of course the end isn't even the end at all, but only the commissure, where Part 2 will continue. Such a giant album and you can't even have all the tools to ultimately judge it yet. So until the triptych will be painted completely, it must suffice to just embrace this first part on its own and as usual since "Four Phantoms" in 2015 (probably) crown it as the Metal album of the year.
Or wait, strike Metal! That term is too small for this dimension-melting behemoth.
As is the CD format for the fantastic cover artwork by Jordi Diaz Alamà. But for convenience and with bad experiences regarding the pressing quality of the last album, I decided to go for the double compact disc anyway. And it's fine. Maybe I should get the t-shirt to have a bigger version of that Hieronymous Bosch inspired artwork?
When you're hearing the first minutes of "The Clandestine Gate" - nothing but very minimal organ - for the first time, you might experience it as a dragging intro. But in hindsight and from the second run on you should understand how integral this beginning is for the whole song by establishing the glacial pace and rhythm of the whole piece like the station scene in "Once Upon The Time In The West". Bell Witch aren't slow to bore or torture you, they are just moving tectonic plates and taking the time it needs to do so. And what other approach seems adequate for an album, which sounds like the score to the sorrowful doom of the whole world?
And regarding the solo organ: When it is revisited much later in the piece, it marks the pinnacle of anticipation, giving us a long breather before the most mountainous and majestic crescendo. By now you should have long found yourself onboard a vessel floating far beyond the regular perception of time, life and death.
The one single moment which is not perfect on "The Clandestine Gate" is the very end, when after a whole passage of calming down with a sole clean bass, the piece just stops without a satisfying resolution. But then of course the end isn't even the end at all, but only the commissure, where Part 2 will continue. Such a giant album and you can't even have all the tools to ultimately judge it yet. So until the triptych will be painted completely, it must suffice to just embrace this first part on its own and as usual since "Four Phantoms" in 2015 (probably) crown it as the Metal album of the year.
Or wait, strike Metal! That term is too small for this dimension-melting behemoth.
As is the CD format for the fantastic cover artwork by Jordi Diaz Alamà. But for convenience and with bad experiences regarding the pressing quality of the last album, I decided to go for the double compact disc anyway. And it's fine. Maybe I should get the t-shirt to have a bigger version of that Hieronymous Bosch inspired artwork?
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen