Review Summary: Death Rhymes with the fading star.
On March 28th of 2018, Cave In, Zozobra and Old Man Gloom's bass wizard and feral screamer Caleb Scofield lost his life in a fatal car crash. He was only 39 years old. The impact of his loss was felt deeply across the different circles where he belonged, from family, friends and fans to home ground Hydra Head Records, the label where a good part of his legacy will live on for generations to come.
Renditions to his memory have happened in abundance since then, with Cave In's
Final Transmission, which was released last year, and now through his other project, Old Man Gloom. Aaron Turner and co. sucker punched
Seminar IX: Darkness of Being last week from out of nowhere while fooling a few illuminati into thinking they had leaked the four-piece's latest album. Turns out,
Seminar IX: Darkness of Being is the first one of two albums released through Profound Lore, the second titled
Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning, scheduled to be unleashed on May 22nd this year if the band doesn’t drop it in any other unexpected, unorthodox, mischievous way.
With Cave In and Mutoid Man's Stephen Brodsky now on bass and vocal duties, Old Man Gloom is back to business as hard and heavy as they'll ever be. "Procession of the Wounded" erupts as a rightful opener, hammering its way relentlessly for minutes until Turner's beastly growls choke out the track revealing how the tune was built on a simple two note piano key. Old Man Gloom's humor at its best. "Heel to Toe" buries a spine-shivering ghostly transmission under a massive riff and Newton's screams, while "The Bleeding Sun" blends a stunning doom intro reminiscent of Turner's SUMAC with a hardcore pummeling beat and an unforeseen final ambient passage.
"Canto de Santos" (in reference to drummer Santos Montano) is the monstrous belly of
Seminar IX: Darkness of Being. The 10-minute colossus starts like a nightmare of cables not working properly and drums sound checking, slowly building into a proper sludge behemoth and alternating with another brief punk explosion before giving way to a heart splitting acoustic homage to Caleb's memory called "Death Rhymes", featuring also Mamiffer's Faith Coloccia on vocals and organ. The marching snare of "In Your Name" introduces a pleasant surprise, since the longest tune of
Seminar IX: Darkness of Being is actually a song written 10 years ago by Santos and Caleb, originally for Zozobra, that only existed in demo form and that's been re-worked by the OMG family with a whirlwind of riffs and hearfelt vocals by Newton, Turner and Brodsky. "Love is Bravery" closes the first assault of 2020's Old Man Gloom, needless to say, in a gloriously uplifting manner. A superb bass melody leads the song until the perfect brew of Isis and Cave In floods your senses with one of the best compositions the Boston collective has ever conceived.
Seminar IX: Darkness of Being is not only a beautiful tribute to Caleb Scofield, but also one more excellent addition to Old Man Gloom's still faultless discography. The collaborative effort of the holy trinity of modern heavy music production: Randall Dunn, Matt Bayles and Kurt Ballou, really shines throughout the album and only serves to boost the band's outstanding performance. Old Man Gloom delivers what the world needs right now: love and sludge, and brace yourselves, because this is only the beginning.
