The End

From the moment The End started, I knew I would like this album. To have such a visceral positive reaction to an album is almost unheard of me me these days, as my default mood for reviewing or listening to new stuff is almost always expecting it to be bad. I've found that assuming everything is terrible is a much finer way to hone one's skills as a critic than any other method. That's why it's so incredibly pleasant when an album appeals immediately to my reptilian brain, and the opening drone of "Burning End" just scratched that itch and gave me that simplistic and base joy for which I so yearn.

Ultimately, I think that's all I ask of doom. Doom should be the perfect balance between primitive pleasure and intellectual stimulation. Slow, churning chords filled with a sort of primeval drowning should meld seamlessly with gasps of air in the form of melodic breaks and slight variation in speed. Poisoned by Life creates exactly this; an Electric Wizard meets Aphotic meets Reverend Bizarre - focused on grooves and powerful riffs, melodic leads, and immensely dense atmospheric sense. This dreary atmosphere is only made more tangible by the amazing production. Low-end without being muddy, cavernous without being too monotextual, the guitar tone is incredibly thick and crunchy, the bass, a wall of sound that just kicks in at all the right times, and the drums, while simple - are ritualistic and hypnotic. Each performance is tight and organic, and the flow is just plain impressive. Vincent's vocals are reminiscent of Albert Witchfinder's but a little more subdued, fitting the grimmer and less humorous band. Vincent and Sarah accent each other perfectly, when Vincent's guitar ebbs, her bass flows - with riffs punctuated at perfect times by thumping drones. Glendon's drumming has just enough variation and cymbal work that each song's dirge-like procession are saved from any form of monotony. Everything is so well delivered that it's hard to imagine this as a young band, much like Liturgy's Aesthetica, The End sounds so organic and so in sync, that it appears effortless as if the band just felt the music in them and decided to created it.

The album starts with "Burning End" - an absolutely giant song that starts with a lone guitar soon joined by the rhythm section in a sound that can be described best as "charmingly brutal". The main riff is a furious take on classic heavy metal - downtuned and vicious with an occasional accent higher on the fret that just slays. The lead notes give a nauseous and miasmatic feeling to the song, where instead of headbanging, the listener would just sway and get swallowed by the crushing main riff. By the time the solo kicks in, the song has already had a firm grip on the listener for four minutes, and it's absolutely perfectly placed, sounding like a deranged Iommi or Lasse. Of course, the drowning description would be more thematically appropriate for the following song; "Last Breath", a Leviathan of a song. The main riff is a wave of sound that engulfs and rolls over anything attempting to escape. Then, when it seems it can't get any more sinister, the bass comes to the forefront with the subtlety of a sledgehammer while Vincent croons and adds a nice little clean guitar accent over it. The clean break is perfect, and adds to the distinct feeling of drowning, only to be swallowed again by the main riff. Sinister, memorable and a blast.

"Prayer", with its incredibly dreadful subject matter is oddly enough, the cheeriest sounding song on the album. Layered distortion of chordal progression met with brute force and atmospheric samples all leading into a main riff that, less distorted and a little sped up, could pass for a post-rock song. While it is cheerier than the rest, it is by no means a break from the gloom of the album. It's still a crushing, dense, and powerful song that blends a lot of different doom elements into one very well placed and well packaged composition.

"For a Dying Man" continues the award-winning formula but raises the ante from before. There are the swirling abyssal riffs, but this time accented by toms and bass drums rather than cymbals, there's the clean break, but this time it offers no respite, rather it just adds to the oncoming dread and hopelessness presented in the song. Even the positive chords added towards the end of the song really only give the listener a sense of perverse victory, as the song itself is about accepting a meaningless death. The fading riff leading into an organ quietly playing the final notes is not only a perfect end to the song and album, but a powerful image for the act of dying. A once powerful thing, rendering slowly to the inevitability of death, but even in its last moments, keeps quietly going along until gently fading. Absolutely perfect for doom.

In a year already filled with excellent releases, both from big names and up-and-comers, Poisoned by Life stands out from the crowd. Blending both traditional and modern doom elements, I'd be hard pressed to find a band more focused on creating their own sound while worshiping at the altar of the gods of doom. An excellent and evocative piece of doom that somehow manages to be grim and intense while never losing a reverential view of death and dying. Highly recommended.