Weeping Sores – The Convalescence Agonies (Review)

Weeping Sores are a death/doom band from the US and this is their second album.

Brought to us by two members from bands such as Pyrrhon, Scarcity, and Seputus, The Convalescence Agonies contains 45 minutes of material. The style is death/doom, enriched with cello, keyboards, and on one track banjo.

This is not your old-school, stale-sounding, done-to-death death/doom. Although it certainly shares familiar elements with its parent style, The Convalescence Agonies is more vibrant, fresh, and fertile than the norm. Of course, this is a testament to the skills of its creators, as anything associated with Pyrrhon tends to be non-standard and of a high level of quality.

The Convalescence Agonies is an album saturated in melancholy and despair. It’s a record of textured misery and darkness, delivered with contemporary skill and expressive detailing. The songs are layered death/doom explorations of pain and suffering. The amount of feeling that has gone into their creation is tangible, and they drip emotion from every bleeding pore. Even the sections where the death metal aspect comes to the fore and the aggression ramps up viciously are driven by heartfelt feeling more than anything else.

The music is well-crafted and immersive. It grabs hold of the listener’s attention easily, and firmly. Depth and substance are key parts of the music’s foundation, and they spread through their running time with confident, anguished presence.

This is a such a strong record. There’s a world to explore and become lost in across the album, with each song offering something special. The Convalescence Agonies is an exceptional death/doom release. Through great emotion and rewarding songwriting Weeping Sores have produced a stunner.

Essential listening.