Review Summary: When you stare into the abyss...
Thomas Ligotti, the author of The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, said, "[c]onsciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are–hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones." The horror lies in the image reflected in your mirror. This horror is your own mortality and the longer you look at it, the more you realize the futility that is existence. Reality is nothing more than an eternal void that swallows one life after another. Nothing is new under the sun. So you may ask, what is achievement, what is gain, when placed next to eternity?
Nihilism. It's a real good topic for a party and it'll definitely get you laid on the first date: Just make sure to wear protection so you don’t bring another innocent life into this spinning rock in the center of Satan's asshole. Call Down The Sun, is bleak. It is menacing. It is oppressive. The first track, Into The Distance, has the ringing of a bell echoing far behind a slow brooding riff that is marinating in despair. At the one minute mark, you anticipate that the track will gain in speed but it actually slows down a bit, and your attention begins to focus. The vocals are beyond guttural. The vocalist, Rikke Emilie List, gets lower than a pregnant ant on these tracks. Now, some of the tracks on this record should be associated with a philosophy such as Nihilism, and if that’s your jam then you'll find it here in spades–but that isn't the only thing Call Down the Sun has to offer. The second track, Sand is King, is the failed nihilist. You see, nihilism shouldn't be angry. Logically, anger wont change the horror that is reality. Konvent is angry and Sand is King is a proud proclamation of that fact. Bleak and broken is the name of the game and your forced to play, so put on your happy face.
So, have you been seduced? Probably not, it isn't too hard to find a Death-Doom band that embraces the darker side of our human experience. However, it is difficult to find a group who can encapsulate these feelings in such a groovey way. Yay! Doom, gloom, and death! Lets make it fun! You see, this band brings the riffs. Try to listen to Grains without banging your head. You can be a miserable nihilistic son of a bitch, but your gonna bop your damn head that’s for sure. Want to know the best part? Even though this band brings the infectious groovey riffs, the bleak atmosphere is never lost on the listener. Your banging your head and having a good old time, but you're simultaneously focused on the darkness and terror that this album is forcing you to confront. Paradoxical? Absolutely.
This album is the musical representation of a repentant nihilist. The record begins in a bleak atmosphere and slowly transitions into anger, and in the final leg, descends into beauty. Its almost as if the artist have resigned themselves into this disastrous affair. They have fallen in love with their abuser–existence. There is a certain romanticization to struggle. To live in spite of it all. I think that’s brilliantly reflected in the album cover as well. A landscape largely covered in shadow, but the substance and center of this record is in the small slivers of light that allow you to conclude that it is indeed a landscape. It's almost as if the artist is saying "Here I am. In spite of it all, I exist."
