Lands

Bereft are a doom/post-black metal band that hail from Madison, Wisconsin which is very noteworthy because Wisconsin (which of course is my home state) is not exactly known as a haven for doom or black metal. But when it comes to talent, geography really doesn't mean a whole lot, and thankfully, the guys in Bereft have that in spades. With only one previous full length album to their namesake, 2014's "Lost Ages" (an excellent album BTW), this Wisconsin four piece have followed that up with something that is just as powerful and engaging in all aspects, and have thus succeeded in doing so with their 2017 release, "Lands" (their second full length album and first with Prosthetic Records) which indeed proves to be an absolutely mesmerizing journey through a massive, towering and darkening abyss of blackened doom metal goodness.Here on "Lands", Bereft takes the listener on a 44 minute and 55 second long journey that comprises of four epic, mesmerizing and powerful songs that just lure you into an abyss of dark, moody, chugging, heavy powered doom metal melded seamlessly with icy and frantic black metal passages that are just as fierce as they are amazing with of course a very massive production that tops it all off perferctly. Session drummer Mike Kadner seamlessly drives this powerful beast of an album forward with a mixture of slow, steady, hefty, mammoth-like doom-eqsue beats and fiery, punctuating, head splattering back metal-esque blast beats beneath an array of mighty, massive, hulking riffs courtesy of guitarists Zach Johnson and Alex Linden throughout these four heavily adventurous songs, and bassist Cade Gentry's thick bass tone and heavy, dirty licks complete the band's rhythm section and making it so seamlessly solid and powerful all the way through. On an added note, the dual vocals of Johnson and Linden are also layered and engrossing in all the right ways here with an array of wicked, throat-piercing black metal-esque screams and yells, deep, brutal, commanding growls and shouts and forlorn clean singing. Whether playing heavy-as-all-hell or indulging in more nuanced introspective delivery, the vocals are always used to their fullest advantage throughout this album here.The first and unquestionably, the most powerful and BEST song on the album in my opinion, "We Wept" is a powerfully epic and monstrous 13 minute long work of art. Opening up with some deep, hefty, mammoth, lumbering, atmospheric doom metal-esque riffing, this absolute monster of a song just plows and rages it's way through a solid seven- minutes of doom laden madness complete with plodding, crushing guitars, slow, gentle yet massive drum beats and intense vocals. Then exactly around that 7 minute mark, the drums of Mike Kadner begin to pick up the pace as he breaks into a sweet, full blown mini-drum solo before crashing his way into black metal territory with a spree of head splitting black metal-esque blast beats, and later on around the 8:24 mark, the song is also highlighted by some awesome, speeding, melodic tremolo picking leads as well as some great soaring clean vocals, and meanwhile, the final 3 minutes of this song is a crushing, apocalyptic doom crawl filled with yet more, crushing, hulking doom riffs (with some really cool leads being included), and slow, hefty, gentle drums and thick, heavy bass licks. What an epic masterpiece of a song this truly is.Next up, the album's following tracks, "The Ritual" and "In Filth" are both condensed into more shorter eight-to-nine minute durations, yet they contain the elements of the album's leviathanic opening track. "The Ritual" begins with ambient soundscapes and soft, melodic and tranquil guitars before exploding into a procession of somber funeral doom with more heavier riffs, slow, yet thundering bass lines and gentle drum beats. Soon enough, at the 3:16 mark, the song thrusts into a back-and-forth struggle between deafening doom and bludgeoning black metal stampedes which include yet more skull splitting blast beat drumming and fiery, blistering, tremolo picking riffs and leads, and ferocious growls and yells that culminate in a raging climax of pure dissonant hell and fury. Meanwhile, "In Filth" remains very consistent throughout it's nine-minute running time as both Johnson and Linden steadily deal out bludgeoning riff after bludgeoning riff after another, thus beating and pounding the listener into pure submission with Gentry's thick and heavy bass lines and Kadner's steady, hefty, thundering drums accompanying them, plus the song is also highlighted by yet more hellacious black metal-esque blasting that devours whatever is left near the end of the song as well.The album's fourth and final track, "Waning Light" is a 14 minute plus leviathanic epic of a finale that begins with two-minutes of clean, ethereal guitars that echo among hollow drones and spectral vocals, which lull the listener into a false sense of security, not long before the song unleashes an assault of gargantuan, hulking riffs that just crash down upon the listener, making him/her feel like he or she is being trapped inside a collapsing building with deep, torturous, intense bellows and yells accompanying them. The song just effortlessly trudges along like an unfathomable beast from ancient mythology, wreaking unbelievable havoc as it stomps and crushes about unmercifully. The slow and low riffage are eventually accompanied by fiery, swirling, psuedo black metal leads that soar over listener's heads as some pulverizing, skull splattering black metal blasting continue their steady march. The song is also further highlighted by a soft interlude of reflective clean guitars, as well as a surprisingly winding, soaring and uplifting, melodic guitar solo near the song's end as well.Overall, Bereft's "Lands" is such an all around evocative, brilliantly and thoughtfully executed, thoroughly engaging, and a masterclass of effective subgenre melding. What lacks in speed, these Wisconsinites make up for with pure, massive, bludgeoning and unrelenting sonic devastation throughout. Much like the axe on the album's art cover, this album just splits the listener's head with over 44 minutes of sprawling, blackened doom metal madness. There's no doubt that the brilliant and genuine integration of black metal into relentless and dynamic doom metal makes "Lands" one of 2017's best and most adventurous metal albums of the year.Jeremy