With its eye catching photo cover of Brenda Lee Spencer, arrested after a particularly bad Monday in 1979 which saw her culling classmates at a high-school shooting, Formalist set us up for a particularly harrowing debut album ‘No One Will Shine Anymore.’ That was before we even got to the music from the Italian band comprising of members of Forgotten Tomb, Malasangre and Tombstone Highway. Five years later they are back with the follow-up, ‘We Inherit A World At The Seams with another attention capturing image of someone committing ritual-suicide via hari-kari. I’m sure again that I recognise the photo and went searching, discovering it relates to Shinto nationalist, author and playwright Yukio Mishima who died at his own hands via seppuku after a failed insurrection attempt. Whilst in the rigours of death, a trusted colleague decapitated him. Perhaps that image is in the booklet or back cover. The most surprising thing of this traditional form of self-demise is that it did not happen as far back in time as you may expect but in 1970. It’s also appears to be an image that sees the band in hot-water with ever censorious social media giving it a ban!

Fascinating stuff but ‘The Mishima Incident’ aside no doubt it is the music you are interested in. Here Formalist have gone down the somewhat risky route of presenting just three tracks with an average running time of quarter of an hour each. Their self-described ‘slow music for the disenchanted,’ is not exactly pleasant but no doubt you guessed that. ‘Warfare’ rumbles in ominously before a shrill guitar squeal & bottom end, doomy rumbling bass form the music. Over the top of this are the nasal, snarling tones of Herr Morbid of Forgotten Tomb, here performing under the name of Ferdinando “HM” Marchisio. They are an acquired taste especially if you have not encountered his long-time main band but suit the grumbling discontent of the music perfectly. It’s all ugly, slow and harrowing basically. I would like to have an insight into the lyrics but they are not available, although we are informed that they are presented as a “first person account tackling themes such as darkness, despair and social unrest.” Everything drops out after a while apart from a gloomy guitar part and disconcerting dark soundscape evolving into some strange hallucinatory BBC radiophonic sci-fi effects, then back to sludgy discord.

If that hasn’t made you want to lose the will to exist, next up is ‘Monuments’ an edifice of crumbling ruination in musical form. Jangling guitar, spoken word parts prophesising doom, scary shrieks and slow turmoil all gradually take sluggish form where nihilism and deadbeat despondency is very much the core at the heart of it all. There’s absolutely no cheer and as the grimness spreads like slow plague this would no doubt be a hardened listen to even fans of bands such as Today Is The Day, Eyehategod and Iron Monkey is the scabrous sludge stakes. The best, or indeed the worst is to come with the near 16-minute conclusion ‘Selfish.’ Centred around a simple but highly effective repetitive guitar melody this one gets right under the skin and completely mesmerises. Beauty is in the eye, or the ear of the beholder and this is the sort of song that those who would take pleasure over the time-motion capture of a slowly dissolving corpse will be completely enveloped by. The only way of really backing up such a statement is by listening to it but the song is the personification of finding beauty in darkness and once experienced it is near impossible to shift. Tackle and absorb via the following links but approach with utmost caution.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/Formalist.Official

https://bruciarecords.bandcamp.com/album/we-inherit-a-world-at-the-seams