Skip to main content

Endon – Mama


Mama came out in 2015, and while the objective here is to cover the most recent output, this album holds a special place in my heart and I couldn’t resist adding it to the list. I haven’t listened to many albums that resemble this one – I’m not sure there’s anyone out there who does a better job at mixing harsh noise, grindcore and black metal.
Endon describe themselves as “catastrophic noise metal”, and it suits them well. Everything happening in Mama is either ominous, cataclysmic, or downright frightening. It’s the first album that made me actually grind my teeth from the intensity in years, and it’s a quality the record keeps for a while.
The album starts off with some interesting black metal-tinged guitar work, but that soon grinds into noise, with parasite sounds appearing, more intense riffs and drumming, and the craziest vocals since Silencer. It’s great to hear how Endon can push the limits of a section until it turns around and eats itself, becoming some ungodly creation no one can really understand. There is a specific moment in “Etude for Lynching by Family” which sounds like a horror film is played along the already cacophonous black metal / noise mix, and it’s one of the most chaotic pieces of music I’ve heard.
While a lot of the album sounds like concentrated grindcore aggression with multiple noise songs being performed at the same time, Endon sometimes takes their time and add in drone elements, such as in the 15-minute masterpiece Acme Apathy Amok. After a long, drawn out portion of buildup, the release they came up with is spectacular. It conjured images of being lost in space, my communications sputtering and unresponsive, and I was somehow accepting my fate.
When people speak of “tortured” vocals, they probably haven’t heard of this band. The pained grunting, quasi-Silencer level agonizing falsetto and grindcore-style squealing and growling are all areas the singer is talented in. It’s fascinating to hear him have a conversation with himself, from victim to executioner, with his panned wails reverberating throughout the songs. I’m not sure what he’s saying, but I’m pretty sure it’s just as terrifying as the rest of the music.

There are a couple of strangely melodic, “musical” moments during the album, including some actual guitar solos, but these are rare and don’t interfere with the general heavy ambiance of the record – they’re placed intelligently and serve as good contrast with what’s going to follow. The rest is mostly wailing and bandsaws, what more could you ask?



Giuseppe Fitzsimmons
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grime - Live

Grime Live – Oct. 2017 The air is heavy, the lights are dim, and the conversations skittle away, hiding in the corners as Grime takes to the stage. Eyes up and hair down, I knew we were in for something good. Grime, the italian sludge act, released their first album in 2013 on the well-known Mordgrimm records. They might be the best-named band I can think of – the unclean buzz of the strings and damp mix of instruments give off a filthy, pock-marked sound, the kind you'd hear from scraping a sewer floor. I didn't know of them until their 2015 record, Circle of Molesters, but they're the kind of band who can do no wrong. The first note hit, and the bass shook me in unholy ways. After staggering a few steps back, I looked up at the stage and saw some of the best lighting since Messuggah. A white backdrop, searchlight-style movement carving the silhouettes of Grime into my retina. Marco, lead guitar, was spectacular in his theatrics. Doubling over in rage and p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Phrenelith – Desolate Endscape

Phrenelith Desolate Endscape – 2017 Remember when the Internet went crazy for Pissgrave – Suicide Euphoria (Profound Lore Records) back in 2015 ? It's time for a new riot straight from the abyss, and the demon's name is Phrenelith. Born in 2013 in Copenhagen, Phrenelith started their career out with a split with Spectral Voice (Iron Bonehead, 2016), followed shortly by an EP (Chimaerian Offspring – Extremely Rotten Productions, 2017) and a masterpiece of an album, Desolate Endscape (Dark Descent Records, 2017). Desolate Endscape is the kind of album that reminds me why I like death metal – it's inherently primal , evil and intimidating. This record is a massive slab of death metal, dense and heavy and being thrown at your face. The fact that there's zero flourish or unnecessary technicality brings Phrenelith to the forefront of the cavemanesque caverncore scene that's been simmering for the past decade. The entire album drips with ichor, and while ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five the Hierophant – Over Phlegeton

Five the Hierophant – Over Phlegeton Dark Essence Records – 2017 There's a rare breed of album which instantly becomes a cult classic, and I can confidently say Over Phlegeton is one of them. Experimental, weird, bizarre, none of these words come close to describing just how extraordinary and interesting this record is. If I had to draw parallels with another band, I'd say it's a heavier, more mature version of Mamaleek, with many similar elements such as the ethnic percussions or non-traditional scales, but with a much darker visage and more detailed composition. There have been incredible avant-garde metal albums using unconventional instruments, but none have been so tactfully used as the saxophone is on Over Phlegeton. Played as a full instrument and not a token nod to some jazzy experimentation, Five the Hierophant explore the extremeties of what the sax can do – from screaming leads floating above the guitars to wailing voices in the wind, passing by hear...
Post a Comment
Read more