By Calen Henry.
Anonymous UK collective Bull Elephant's sophomore album picks up where the
debut left off and this time the band are less cagey about the subject matter,
giving a pretty clear overview of Created From Death's narrative.
The album's eight songs switch between the story of the eponymous Bull
Elephant, now in human form, and the build up of tensions during World War II,
both on conventional and unconventional fronts. The Cult of the Black Sun,
self-professed descendants of a corrupted god, seek to re-enlist the bodies
buried in mass graves as an unending undead army. To combat such unholy
creations the creature goes "from beast to human to beast again". From
reborn human flesh, the essence of the creature known as Bull Elephant is
transferred into the form of a great whale, and on that note the album
ominously ends. They'll have to go far to top Mastodon's Leviathan for
"battle whale concept album" but I'll definitely be along for the ride.
Just as the the story for Created from Death is a bit more succinct
than Bull Elephant so is the music. This time around the band digs
deeper into groovy doom-sludge, leaning more on the melodic "almost-a-scream"
style of vocals and keeping the really heavy and really atmospheric sections
for key story moments. The change makes for a more cohesive album than
Bull Elephant. Created From Death flows better, has deeper
grooves, and more memorable riffs but owes a great deal to the debut. The
sequel wouldn't work without the set up from the first album.
Bull Elephant introduced the whole mythos, where
Created From Death gets to dive right into the next chapter.
The ridiculous multi-album concept (there's clearly going to be at least one
more part) may not be for everyone, but Bull Elephant deliver the goods, both
in riffs and concept. Sign me up for album no. 3.