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It wasn't too long ago I was writing about Chrch. Their split with Fister last year was pretty good. Luckily the wait was short for the next release, Light Will Consume Us All. On this one we get three tracks ranging from nine and a half to up over 20 minutes. So be prepared to invest some time.
“Infinite” starts with a long intro of lonesome guitar setting a longing mood with the percussion sitting in the distance. After a while the drums move up, the guitar moves back, and the vocals come into focus setting up a doomy dirge. Melodic lines weave throughout and vocals range from clean, Dorthia Cottrell-esque to absolutely vile. The passages of quiet and serene and those of outright heaviness show the two sides of the band can co-exist. But to be honest the haunting guitar/vocal part around the 3/4 mark was not expected. Luckily, the crushing volume and massive tone returns on the back of a beastly doom riff to finish things off.
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| Chrch at Northern Discomfort 2018. Photos by Krups Peredo / Abismo Blogzine. |
“Portals” is a complex 14:49 that feels much darker than its predecessor. Slower, more pummelling, more doomed. At least when it wants to be. There are less intense moments on this one too. Eva Rose's clean vocals are ghostly. In fact, all the clean vocals on this are. The cleans really open things up to contrast the oppressiveness they can unleash at seemingly any moment. “Portals” cycles around with the heaviness and airiness eventually converging in the momentous way Chrch are fond of. This track demonstrates how sometimes the music doesn't necessarily take you from Point A to Point B. As the track shifts moods, vocal styles, and volumes - exploring sonic spaces - the listener feels rooted in place as all this happens around them. Powerless but to let the feelings, vibrations, and melodies simply flow through, one must then brace themselves.
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| Chrch at Northern Discomfort 2018. Photos by Krups Peredo / Abismo Blogzine. |
Finally “Aether” wraps up the LP with the most Pallbearer-like feeling. (Maybe it's closer to Warning. I haven't heard them much. Maybe it's both.) For a while slothly doom “riffs” crawl towards what feels like inevitable doom. Rose's vocals softly add to a haunted, melancholic atmosphere amid cymbal crashes and heavy-handed crush. It does get quiet. Heartbreakingly so. Until almost out of nowhere fast and raging black metal fury sends everything else shattering into the void at the command of terrifyingly tortured vocals. The final minute or so of both the track and album strikes a balance between the fury and melancholy with superb atmosphere and a fitting fade to darkness.
For roughly 45 minutes Chrch (Rose, Chris Lemos (guitar/vocals), Ben Cathcart (bass), Adam Jennings (drums), and Karl Cordtz (guitar/vocals)) paint a rich sonic tapestry using light (that will consume us all) and darkness, melody and pure power, warmth and cold. It's textured and multi-layered. Doomed and despairing. Crawl out of your hole and let Chrch do the work of making you wish you had stayed in it. At least not without pulling Light Will Consume Us All back in with you.
