‘Ex Est’ is the sophomoric full length album from Dutch Drone/Doom Metal quartet Ggu:ll, a band who take inspiration from the horrors of life and the inevitability of death. For this offering the band collaborated for the first time with Doom/Noise experts Consouling Sounds for a CD release.
Opening stanza ‘Raupe’ has a stark, barren feel as agonisingly slow industrial sounding metallic guitar tones build patiently before reaching crescendo and spilling forth into ‘Falter’, whose bleak monochrome tinged riffs and snarling bass lines mesh with monolithic drum blasts which clatter to the ground as if from a great height. Ferocious and strenuous vocal work sounds out with visceral aggression, similar in style to those from Cult of Luna, and always the overarching mechanical atmosphere remains, an ever-present grey, monotonous miasma of urban gloom.
As the album progresses the near barbaric tones from vocalist WvdV become like sledgehammer blows to the chest, pulsing and vibrating with the real-world horrors of which he speaks. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics you can still feel the misery and pent up anger held within each syllable as they grate out of his throat.
An interesting facet to ‘Ex Est’ comes in the form of fourth track ‘Samt al-ras’ which has a distinctly Funeral Doom edge to it, a darkness and bitter melancholy that moves the sound away from simple Drone Doom and fuses it with a style far more regretful and full of lamentation.
‘Ex Est’ is an intensely grinding affair, an abrasive listen but with a lot of heart and feeling packed into every chord, every note. It doesn’t quite spark on a personal level with me but I certainly appreciate the bleak atmosphere and malevolent aggression that it summons.
(7/10 Marksson)
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