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░ ██ ██ Artist: Whelm ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as The Sun █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2015 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2016-02-28 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Aesthetic Death Records ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ If youÆve had to drag any boulders uphill lately, █
█ here is Whelm with your soundtrack. At first, I █
█ wasnÆt sure how much I would like 'A Gaze Blank █
█ and Pitiless as the Sun'. But while the opening █
█ two songs are solid if unremarkable soundscape █
█ sludge, Whelm has more cards in hand than is █
█ immediately evident. Starting with ôFrom the █
█ Trenches of Perceptionö, continual layers of added █
█ spice elevate the album into a memorable delight █
█ of wretchedness. 'Gaze' proves to be an █
█ impressively wide-ranging, windswept feast for the █
█ ears. █
█ As indicated by the title and album art, this is █
█ metal I would listen to in the miserable, █
█ oppressive heat of summer. Walls of harsh, █
█ overdriven guitars rise on all sides like a █
█ blinding desert wind, then withdraw, leaving me █
█ feeling that the storm hasnÆt calmed, just off in █
█ the distance for a moment. All members of Whelm █
█ contribute their distinct voices, and the █
█ juxtaposition of several vocal lines in tandem █
█ sometimes suggests dialogue rather than monologue. █
█ The sound palette is fairly extensive, letting █
█ Whelm give the listener more harmony and █
█ dissonance with each cycle of motif, these often █
█ being delivered via a simple color-tone shift. █
█ Like the action-on-every-page of Joseph Heller's █
█ novel Catch-22, Whelm never lessened their grip on █
█ my attention. █
█ I especially welcomed the far-east influence that █
█ unexpectedly appears late in the album. These █
█ pieces combine with the panoramic doom environment █
█ to create an almost cinematic effect. It also █
█ helps give the album a sense of travel, beginning █
█ in one place and ending somewhere else. █
█ Fans of Unearthly Trance, Woods of Ypres, and My █
█ Dying Bride's early 2000s albums would do well to █
█ put 'A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as the Sun' on the █
█ headphones. Walk through narrow, deserted city █
█ streets out onto overgrown fields and hills, and █
█ let this album open up and swallow you into its █
█ maw. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Tann D°kka J°r≡ 2:23 ░
░ 2. The Brazen Bull 4:40 ░
░ 3. From the Trenches of Perception 7:30 ░
░ 4. Perpetual Blindness 5:14 ░
░ 5. Delphine la Laurie 12:05 ░
░ 6. The Wrecked Orchestra 2:24 ░
░ 7. Ghosts in the Undergrowth 8:44 ░
░ 8. Event Horizon 11:54 ░
░ 54:54 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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