Review Summary: An excellent doom metal track, compelling, dark, and crushing, and at the same time atmospheric. Any fan of the genre should at least give a listen to this wonderful EP.
You step outside as the grey clouds loom above your head, the light trying to break through oppressed. The air smells fresh, the streets are wet and shining, as the morning air rushes past your head. You know that billions of rain drops are about to be let loose upon you, slowly at first, and then in a burst of thunder, like a thousand warriors charging towards you. It hasn’t happened yet, but you feel the atmosphere around you shake and tremble; you know it will come soon. Nothing you can do will stop it. And then, just as you know it will, the rain falls. It cascades upon you, dropping down like the tears of heaven. It’s peaceful at first, not chaotic, not tense, but peaceful. And then it builds up. As you walk along the streets, hurriedly, trying to avoid the rain, it chases you. You go faster, but so does the rain, it has the very purpose of finding you now. You are being hunted by an unrelenting force. The drops hit, one, two, three, twelve at a time, and you become soaked. The rain is a torrent now, lightning and thunder driving it, the beat behind the sky. You find solace underneath an awning, or a bridge, the only hope of the storm calming. You push on, again and again, from the constricting doom of the rain to the calm between, the gaps of unending water, and at the end of it all, you’re given an experience like no other. This is
Buried At Sea’s “Ghost”.
The instruments on Ghost vary from being delicate, careful even, to becoming brutal, painful, and heavy. Heavy as a piece of lead in your stomach. The guitars have intricate melodies, mingling with each other, and complementing each note. Often a bruising guitar section will be entailed by a few, quieter notes in the background, driving the song more and more. The slightly boring sections are given life by the accompanying lead guitar, and essentially, the lead guitar gives life to the band. Of course, this is cut and dry doom metal (at its best), so no pesky solos or guitar wankery will find its way into the songs. Equally important to the melody of the music are the drums and bass, however. The drums never really stop; something is always going on, pushing the sonic wall towards the listener. A subtle hit of the cymbals in time with the bass, or a more obvious, purposeful, “dun-dun” hit of the snare helps keep things interesting. Also to be noted is the pattern of the drums; the drums seem to follow the same crawling beat, again and again, but then change, and switch back to the original song beat. This is extremely interesting, and adds much needed depth to the song, but is rather hard to describe (only a proper listen will really explain it). The vocals on the other hand, are totally indecipherable, and the lyric booklet is simply blank. The best way to describe the vocals is muddy. They’re muddy, thick, and nearly inhuman. Like a massive puddle filled with dirt and worms after a fresh rain, they shout out at you, almost startling in a sense. The vocals just add to the crowded sections of music, building up even more intense, atmospheric noise. Each drowsy line is spoken with an anger unlike most doom metal; this isn’t the Electric Wizard shout, or the shriek of Burning Witch. It’s something totally different. It’s Buried At Sea.
There’s not truly a way to describe this band, or this album, other than comparing it a real world experience. Bands such as Agalloch, Opeth, Isis, they all create a whole other world in their sound. An experience that sucks you into the song, an entire life in an album. The albums seem to become more than just a musical experience; they become spiritual. Buried At Sea is no different than these bands, other than in style. Each song on Ghost is layered meticulously with several instruments, sound effects, and sludgy, un-earthly vocals. The sound of footsteps echoes in a clean passage, or a few drops of water fall behind the crushing guitars. Every single note in the song rings like a bell in your mind, the next one hits you, and you’re pulled further into the sonic void. A hand from the music is guiding you through the song as you close your eyes and listen intently. A walloping thirty minutes passes and you don’t even realize the storm has subsided. It stays with you hours afterwards.
