Review Summary: Молчание Мёртвых
Identifying exactly what secret ingredients Russia’s Lautreamont have smuggled into their recipe for success is actually a rather difficult task. Generally, when an album makes such a colossal impression on me, there's something in particular I can gesture towards and declare culpable for my enjoyment. Things are not so simple with
Silence of the Deceased, for the brilliant villainy is sequestered away within the arrangements themselves and eludes mere finger-pointing. Although this
je ne sais quoi remains unidentified and interwoven with the very songwriting, the persons of interest responsible manage to sound wholly original without resorting to mere divergence or wacky experimentation.
In lieu of any genuine dissection, which might ruin the fun, there's something oddly satisfying about simply accepting Lautreamont’s expertise. Absolutely essential to the experience is the superb production – of that much I'm certain. What's unusually impressive here lies in the perplexing achievement of an atmosphere at once crunchy
and dull, simultaneously gloomy
and revealing. Hearing the putrid, swampy bass pop and bubble in alliance with uncannily mechanistic drumming is downright glorious. Coupled with discordant guitar riffs, ghastly harsh vocals, and a variety of dissonant embellishments,
Silence of the Deceased manages to depict utter desolation and make it feel claustrophobic. Rhythm undeniably commands the soundscape, while desolate harmonies ring out in disturbing disagreement with one another. Blending elements of black and death metal without really being either, Lautreamont find themselves in a precarious no-mans-land which suits their sonic identity all too well. All I can really claim subsequent to this opaque rambling of mine is that Lautreamont have awoken and satiated a hunger previously unbeknownst to myself. Whatever they're doing behind the curtain; it's being done right.
