This latest release from Danish doom-dealers Recitation claims to be a debut album, the fact that these guys released a self-titled E.P. on cassette last year, can it be classed as a debut?
Furthermore, ‘Carrion’ consists of just one track. So, can it even be classed as an album?
One track? Yep, that’s right, just one…long…massive sludge movement.
This of course wouldn’t work in the realms of “normal” music, but here within a metal genre, anything is possible. When you consider that Belgian black metalers Deuil released a two-track album earlier this year, I fully expect a blank CD to be the next thing to come flying through my door, courtesy of some bunch of experimental misanthropes.
But does one track (consisting of 27 minutes of music) serve to represent a band at its full potential, or does it merely expose their art-form as easier to dismiss?
The track in question is entitled ‘Carrion’, which is detailed in the promo notes as a “non-linear composition consisting of a series of repetitive progressions…”. Is that even possible?
It thematically deals with the confrontation of the harsh realities of decaying flesh, and I wouldn’t be able to speculate as to what is depicted on the sleeve, but rest assured, it’s quite grim.
The music is grim too. It doesn’t disappoint, but then it doesn’t dazzle either.
Beginning in squealing feedback, ‘Carrion’ then breaks into drawn-out doom chords, with the deep rasps of J. S. Jarlstrøm’s vocals coming up for air in the compacting soil of fuzz and occasional swells of mournful lead guitar. Riffs come and go, while sharpened pick-slides add a further dynamic. Drumming and pace picks up at points throughout, but the tracks progressive intentions are hampered by the absence of lighter elements for contrast. So the promo-stated “experience of stretching time and presence” is not quite realised.
Ultimately, the sheer length of ‘Carrion’ isn’t really down to its inventiveness, its doomy drone is pulverised to its maximum, with every riff stretching into feedback. But it is well-played and crushingly heavy. However, without a framework of other (de)compositions, its impact remains undecided.
As a reviewer, it’s pretty lame to sit on the fence…but sit on the fence I must.
Fuck knows how this is going to work on vinyl?
(5/10 Stuart Carroll)
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