Embracing Doom

http://www.myspace.com/embracingdoom

Xeper is a great guy, and a scholarly devotee of the guitar, not just as an instrument of music, but an instrument of chaos. His band is called Embracing Doom, and their effort is a worthwhile combination of both.

I've been meaning to visit Embracing Doom's myspace page for quite some time, but "quite some time" tends to be about the interval before which I get down to shit. In that time, several million babies, most of which will mature into useless oxygen thieves have been born, and several thousand of them, who could have grown into world-changing scientists and innovators have died.

The proportions are the same, but the spin is vastly different. Since this post is for Xeper and the guys in Embracing Doom, as well as anyone else who cares to hear my opinion about their blood effort in expression, I'll advise up front that I'm not into spin when it comes to projects like this. I'm not into hollow butt-suck reviews for friends, nor do I use hyperbole to describe music (or anything that involves personal effort) that I don't like. I'm telling it as I see it, and hear it, based on my minimal exposure, to their online music. I'll also mention that I have no posting restrictions, and that ED afficionados are welcome to respond in their own voices.

Embracing Doom sounds like a young band. That's not a bad thing, in that I hear a solid foundation that could evolve in infinite directions. I like the current result, a team that is all on the same page musically and working for technical synchronicity. ED has decided as a group that it must perform each-others' ideas before proceeding to the next innovation. It's conservative approach that will lead to greater understanding and co-interpretation later on, with the side effect of a tight live program today. There will be time to build, and it's up to the members to decide upon which scale.

I'm surprised at the influences they list: Slayer, Megadeth, Unearth, Six Feet Under, Shadows Fall, Machine Head. I'm from an earlier age, and what I hear is a Texas-style (e.g. Pantera plus...) Celtic Frost. Celtic Frost was riff-oriented, thickly structured, and featured the entire band as a collective rhythm instrument. The Norwegian bands that revolutionized extreme metal in the 1990's were heavily influenced by Celtic Frost; the difference was that they were largely dominated by a single personality. In the case of Embracing Doom, it's an established common ground, and a limitless blank slate.

The sound is currently defined by a tight rhythm section. The double-bass percussions and bass act as one unit; they're emphasized in the demo recordings, and they provide a feel of heaviness, coherence, and expertise. I have a hard time differentiating the guitars, which isn't a detriment to the band at this stage. The guitars add texture mostly, with the occasional adventure into solo, but I like the care that has been taken in defining chord structures for mood and aggression. As a whole, Embracing Doom plays behind the beat, an approach that adds to the heaviness and crunch; for an extreme example, think of Pantera's "Primal Concrete Sledge."

This is music theory that isn't afraid to take its time to clearly understand itself, its limits, and its place in time. As before, this approach won't compromise performance value for experimentation until time permits, when the sound as a whole can take the next step. In this respect, it's a lot like Metal Church, who chose to progress deliberately as a band-unit, but whose advance could be measured by effort rather than divergence and "new direction." Metal Church always played a brilliant live show, and I wish more had recognized their band-level proficienty in the razor-sharp execution of their smoothly rounded riffs. I hear the same level of dedication in Embracing Doom.

One aspect that loses out in the online demos is the vocals, and I can't access the lyrics. The vocalist has his own unique style, and that's cool with me. Extreme vocals are the emotional fingerprint of an extreme band. Personally, I like the fact that John and Jane Q. General Public think of it as just talentless screaming. They'll never understand, and those of us who feel things that sound exactly like the extreme vocalist's invocations always will. I just can't hear the vocals all that much, and I can't index those vocals against the lyrics. I know that this is sincere extreme metal, but I can't honestly evaluate beyond that. Based on what I've heard so far, I feel like you guys know your personal issues and your opinions, and I can reliably assume that your vocals accurately reflect that. It's kind of a "benefit-of-the-doubt" conclusion, but I have faith.

Embracing Doom is a band that I'd love to see live right now; If you plan on hitting the Ozarks fucken let me know. This is a show that those of us on the floor live for: close riff-crunching comeraderie, unison headbanging, and slow pits bent on "fuck-yeah" energy.

Personally, I can't wait to hear what ED does next. The "blank-slate" compliment might sound hollow, but I don't want it to be construed as such. Rather, I feel that the whole band can embrace any direction it wants, and make it work.

In my ancient wisdom, I'd recommend that you guys check out anything that you feel is worthwhile, but I'll add:

Progressive metal extremism (musical): Cynic, "Focus"

Progressive metal extremism (atmosphere): Disembowelment, "Transcendence into the Peripheral"

Extreme metal vocals: Obituary (John Tardy), Morgoth (Marc Grewe, Cursed and Odium), Bethlehem (controversially, Landfermann; Dictus te Necare)

Band coherence and following passions: Ankla, Anacrusis, Kyuss

Just my thoughts. I appreciate the opportunity to write critically equally to the opporunity to hear criticism.

Sincerely,

Ghrankenstein