Review Summary: Cemetery's first LP is anything but lifeless.
Deathrock is a relatively unheard of music genre despite having a very long page on Wikipedia. From what I have heard from the very little I can scavenge, the genre is essentially a marriage of post-punk and gothic rock (with special emphasis on the two’s punk rock roots) with obvious nods to industrial with hard rock style riffs and psychedelic/new wave undertones. Despite Cemetery being labeled as a deathrock band, it is clear that these guys are straying from tradition.
Never has a band name perfectly captured the sound of their music. In just 40 minutes, Cemetery pummels the listener with what could be the soundtrack to a zombie apocalypse; hell, the singer may as well be the reanimated corpse of Ian Curtis. The vocal delivery is deliberately sloppy and the lyrics of all of the songs are unavailable anywhere. Contrary to the morbid tone of the album, the band is frantic with passion as they try their best to make the ride as bumpy as possible without letting the listener fall out of the ride. It's aggressive for something trying to sound so lifelessly dead.
The album opener “Justice” perfectly sets the tone. The song kicks off with a reverb soaked guitar riff before breaking out into a fast paced punk frenzy. It is terrifically unclear what the singer is rambling on about but the only two words that seem comprehensible in the song appear in the chorus: “justice” and “ejaculated.” The guitar riffs steal the show as the band's urgency forces the listener to run away as fast as possible from God knows what. The next song “4:10 Murder City” is a bit slower but displays its dark beauty in the expertly layered atmosphere in the jam that dominates the last half of the song. In fact, what becomes more apparent as the album progresses is the potency in the band’s instrumental talent. The guitarist is especially essential as the riff in each song fleshes out an extra dimension to the horror that is being portrayed.
The third track on the album is when the band really show off what they are made of. The title track’s first 4 minutes is a mid-paced rocker similar to “Justice,” however, what really makes the song so magical is the jam in the last 3 ½ minutes. The pace abruptly slows down while the dreamy riff slowly, slowly morphs into a psychedelic doom metal riff that sets the scene for some poor bloke dramatically being chopped into bite sized pieces by a cannibalistic serial killer. As the riff repeats, the rest of the instruments slowly pick up pace turning into the most terrifying crescendo you will ever hear.
The next two tracks tone down the theatrics a few notches to provide a more digestible sound. The tracks somewhat disturb the pace set by the first 3 tracks but don’t completely derail the album’s coherency. While they are listenable, they’re not too special, especially in the album’s context.
However, the band throws the listener a sucker punch as the next track “Worms” hastily picks the pace up. “Worms” as well as “XVVX” maintain this lightning fast pace a la hardcore punk inspired riffing and song structure. “XVVX” is the better of the two tracks as the tight chemistry of the group is full display. The bass guitar becomes more pronounced as it runs in sync with the guitar while excellent the drumwork masterfully keeps the pace in check. The vocals are, surprisingly, clean and show off his diversity splendidly.
What comes next is probably the biggest sucker punch in the entire album.“Raven’s Nest” is 6 minutes of pure noise that can only be comparable to the Harsh Black Metal Noise scene. Grating guitar feedback and a droning bass line slowly escalate as the singer vaguely shouts in despair in the background over a lo-fi style production. Slowly, slowly the crescendos and the distortion of the feedback compresses the vocals, bass, and drums into one huge instrument. The massive instrument struggles to outdo the hailstorm of distorted feedback before abruptly stopping and disorienting the listener.
The last track ends with a synthesizers imitate brass instruments leading a funeral march. But the brass instruments slowly morph into dirty synthesizers and quickly leave the scene to abandon the listener in the rain. The rain slowly fades out as the listener is left with only wind and shadows.
In just 9 songs, Cemetery takes the listener on a journey through the darkness and horror of a haunted cemetery. Just listening to it is just as exhausting as running out of that same cemetery. Once you leave that cemetery, however, the impression that it just left will never leave. "Almond Eyes" and "The Fan Bellows" do unintentionally bring the album down a bit, but the album does not fall short on substance.
Recommended Tracks:
“Justice”
“Wind and Shadows”
“Worms”
“XVVX”
“Raven’s Nest”
Album Rating: 4.3/5
