This is the début album by Italian atmospheric Doom band Buioingola.
The vocals sound like someone shouting into a bucket and are strangely effective for this. They are set to a backdrop of apocalyptic Doom that wells up with despair and loss to the point of overflow.
The darkly melodic guitars speak of a deep dissatisfaction with the way things are, while the generalised aura of suicidal fragility permeates everything. Even when the band play more up-tempo the atmosphere is still very much down-tempo. In this regard they are not dissimilar to Deinonychus with their all-pervading mood of misery.
The icy feel of the riffs seem to leech all life and energy out of the room as you’re listening to it, drawing you further into the web of negativity that the band conspire to propagate.
Sorrowful guitar melodies, distorted noise Industrial effects, Post-Metal meanderings and some Hardcore/Crust bravado all added to a Doom core and an all-encompassing air of gloom mean that this is a heartfelt journey into someone’s bleakest nightmare.
Apparently Buioingola means “darkness in my throat”. Sounds about right to me.
Our Last Enemy have recently released their latest album Pariah, in all its Industrial Metal glory. I got to grill Matt Heywood and Oliver Fogwell from the band about the album and what makes them march to the pulsing, Industrial beat.
For those who are unfamiliar with you – introduce yourself!
We’re Our Last Enemy and we’re from Sydney, Australia. We play a type of Industrial Metal. We like the listener to decide what it is exactly. We are: Oli – Vocals Bizz – Guitar Jeff – Keys Matt – Bass Zot – Drums
How did you form?
The band was formed in late 2006 in Sydney, by Oli, Jeff and myself (Matt), and we were introduced by a mutual friend after our previous bands had disbanded.
Bizz joined the band in 2010 after leaving his previous band Genitorturers and re-locating to Sydney and was also introduced by mutual friends.
Zot joined the band in 2013 and had originally played in a band with Oli before Our Last Enemy. It’s all in the family here down under! There’s a lot of history and experience between the members having played in various bands for many years.
What are your influences?
We all have different a varied styles of music that we listen to individually, with the common thread being metal, electronic music and just plain weird shit!
In terms of what influences us, I guess we influence each other when someone brings in an idea for a song and what that idea makes the rest of us feel or think.
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
Well I know all 5 of us love the new-ish ‘Bring Me The Horizon’ album, I know they’re very “scene” and popular at the moment – But that album is fucking brilliant! So we would recommend that album for people who can look past their “scenester” audience.
I’m also listening to Phil Anselmo’s new album – Walk Through Exits Only – Its great! It’s a no bullshit album that doesn’t pull any punches and doesn’t try to be one form of heavy music or fit into some sub-genre! Phil is still one of the best frontmen in the world!
Why did you decided to incorporate Industrial and atmospheric parts into your songs, rather than just sticking to the more “traditional” instruments?
That’s a good question – probably because anything traditional bores the living fuck out of us! All 5 of us would rather punch ourselves repeatedly in the testicles than listen to an entire album of like…U2 or Coldplay or something like that.
But I guess it’s because we all love different styles of music even some “traditional” style of rock music… some.
So there was never really a moment where we decided to incorporate industrial or atmospheric parts into our songs it’s just what we do.
Are you happy with how the album came out?
Yeah, very happy… Having Christian (Olde Wolbers – ex Fear Factory) on board as producer was great, it was a great learning curve for us and it was great to have his experience in the studio.
We tried to give the listener as much value as possible, choosing our favourite songs and also adding the remixes from Mortiis, Angel (Dope) and Travis (Divine Hersey) who we thought did a great job.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
There is a central theme to the album on a character we call ‘Pariah’ who causes/follows/is a witness to anything devastating in our world, whether it’s the past, present or future. He doesn’t die, he doesn’t live. He’s is neither the devil nor god, he is just devastation. Or a very unlucky soul.
What is your aim with Our Last Enemy – what do you want to achieve?
Our answer would be the same as any honest band or artist, without getting into a particular agenda – we want to get our music out to as many people as possible, pushing our particular style of art as far as we can, which we hope will lead to a strong career so we can continue to make music.
What does the future hold for Our Last Enemy?
Well, our album drops on March 11th 2014 all over North America through Eclipse Records. We will be doing a North American tour soon, which we can’t elaborate on anymore at the moment and in the meantime we’re writing our second album. We like to stay busy.
German band Gloom Warfare play a form of Industrial Doom/Death that takes the blueprint laid down by old Godflesh and Pitchshifter and uses it to build their own world.
This is a slow-burning, gradual-destruction kind of album, where the tracks move inexorably towards their ultimate conclusion. The nihilistic atmosphere builds as the songs do.
The mood radiated by each track is the kind where you just need to fall into a bit of a semi-trance-like state and soak up the vibes of the album. Long distance journeys or getting a large tattoo; something you can almost zone-out to.
The onwards martial march of the songs is an almost-unbearable constant. Initially when listening to this I wasn’t too impressed, but slowly the relentless driving force that powers this 61 minute album gets under the skin and worms its way into your brain. If you give it the time to saturate your senses then Post Apocalyptical Downfall has lots to offer; this is not an instant album and not one for light listening.
I would prefer a slightly more even sound, with a bit more emphasis given to the clarity of the guitars, but it’s not a deal-breaker.
If you’re in a particular kind of mood then this is a really good album. With a few tweaks to the sound the next one could be great.
Dirge are a veteran French band and Hyperion is their sixth album.
The band play atmospheric Post-Metal Sludge with an electronic/Industrial influence.
I should also note at this juncture that although it’s irrelevant to the music and I have no idea what it’s depicting, I love the album artwork.
The music is mysterious and enticing. There is also a strong feeling of grandeur running through the tracks, especially when the singer goes all semi-clean-shouting, (a technical term…); it almost makes the hairs stand up with goosebumps.
The vocals have a lot of variety and the singer uses his voice to best accentuate the music and the feelings they wish their songs to evoke. The added female vocals used in Venus Claws are a master stroke of judgement and elevate an already well-crafted song to the next level.
Each of the long songs shows an excellent knowledge of dynamics and composition, with light and shade used expertly. The tracks have a droning, near-hypnotic quality yet don’t sound bleak or unforgiving; rather the feeling is cautiously optimistic. Melancholia and uncertainty play a role but ultimately it’s a feeling of uplift-through-awe that the band project; a sense of ascension to be attained.
A near-flawless album and an abject lesson in the mastery of the aural arts. Essential.
The Down Troddence are from India and play an interesting blend of Thrash Metal and other influences.
The Indian scene seems to be endlessly fresh, exciting and innovative; you’re never quite sure what to expect from the multitude of different bands that are based there. The Down Troddence are a perfect example of this; based on the name and album cover I wasn’t given much clue, even the brief description that I did have didn’t really tell me much.
What we get here is groove-heavy Thrash with interesting melodies and influences from a multitude of other genres interspersed within the heaviness.
The vocals remind me of the ones that Pitchshifter used on their early releases, only raspier; they share that same strange, rhythmic, mechanistic and unusual quality that Pitchshifter used so well in the beginning. They sound robotic, inhuman and characterful all at the same time. Odd but effective.
Musically it’s well-played modern Thrash with melody, leads, solos and added effects and keyboards. As well as the odd Folk influence they also incorporate aspects of psychedelia and Industrial sounds into the songs. Taken all together this adds up to an interesting and quite varied listen that has a modern Metal core but has enough elements of older Thrash and other influences to keep things really interesting.
So, take old Pitchshifter, add a dollop of Devildriver, throw in some classic Thrash, and then mix in a pinch of Folk/Psychedelia/Industrial sounds and you have a recipe for How Are You? We Are Fine, Thank You.
Unexpected and gratefully received; this is an album full of joys and with a lot to offer. Another victory from India.
This is the début album by Italian atmospheric Doom band Buioingola.
Wonderbox Metal 