Review Summary: I wish I could say it will all be over soon...
With a name like "Crackhouse," you might be forgiven for thinking this would be some kind of grimy noise/crust/hardcore type outfit (I know I did). What you probably wouldn't expect would be epic-length sludge/doom with minimal vocals and impressively sophisticated song composition. Well, that's what you're getting with Be No One, Be Nothing.
Before digging into the nitty-gritty of the album, let me give a quick anecdote. I picked up the album off of BandCamp after sampling the first track, immediately knowing I would like it. I downloaded it, threw it into MusicBee, and fired it up. As the final notes faded off, I was impressed as hell with what I'd heard and went to swap albums... only to discover I'd only just heard the first track. The opening number was so sprawling and dynamic, I'd thought I'd listened to an entire, admittedly short, album. The songwriting is that good.
There are only three tracks on BNOBN, called "Burden," "Harva," and "Realm" (Google did nothing to explain what "harva" means), and each one has enough variety to be practically an EP of its own. Although not fully instrumental, vocals are a minor element of the album, coming in as a distant howl now and again just to add a little spice to the generally slow, sparse, but always heavy compositions. The drums in particular do a great job of keeping the album from going stale.
BNOBN is definitely a dark album. Words like "bleak" and "harrowing" spring to mind, as the reverb-drenched riffs crawl along, ebbing and flowing from almost gentle plucks of a guitar to explosions of distortion and thundering drums. What's most impressive is that these long tracks aren't small ideas stretched to the breaking point a la lots of doom/post metal bands. Each one builds and cascades perfectly, taking time where they need to without sounding repetitive, all while maintaining a crushing atmosphere. Despite the name, these aren't bluesy stoner riffs. Despite the length, it's not droning doom. Imagine if Bongripper had a baby with Amenra, and that's getting close to what's going on here.
It's not a perfect album, of course. The bass guitar is inaudible (I'm not 100% sure there is one, actually), and the vocals aren't exactly showstoppers, but those are quibbles. Any fan of doom, stoner, post, or sludge metal absolutely should hear this. It'll be on year-end lists if there's any justice in this world.
