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LO!
www.lookandbehold.net
'Look and Behold is the debut album of Australian hardcore crew Lo! and one that is dripping in grime, filth and sonic sludge but with a concomitant refreshing dose of atmosphere. Right from the very start, minute-long opener 'Hath' sets the mood with a piece of music that oozes sinister ambience with feeding back guitars, ultra-low bass frequencies and a distorted voice that exudes malevolence through the dissonant backing. This segues into track two, 'Deluge (Carnivorous Flux)', as they bring down the noise aesthetic with some mildly distorted chords and drums/bass before hitting you with full-on hardcore intensity, interposed with that lighter opening motif throughout before climaxing with a passage of sludge doom. But that's only part of the story. While there's a menacing atmosphere that binds the whole thing together, listening beneath the noise and the grime, and beyond the guttural hardcore vocals, there are various other elements at play such as the groove of the down-tuned mid-tempo stoner style riffing that kicks in midway through 'Bastion'. And relief from the barrage of hardcore extremity arrives in the form of sections driven by clean, less distorted guitars as well as the inclusion of a couple of instrumental pieces, 'Seraphim' and 'Doth'. The 3+ minutes of 'Doth' is particularly impressive with its sustained bass tones overlaid effectively with sporadic piano notes and reverb heavy lead guitar that sounds very much like an EBow at work to me. Tracks also allude to a progressive sensibility with a whole array of different time signatures and tempo changes in the most unexpected of places. That certainly maintains interest in the listening experience. Think Burst meets Snapcase but without the clean vocals of the former (bar 'Moira Kindle') and with a sprinkling of Mastodon, and you'll be some way towards knowing what to expect from 'Look and Behold'. A mightily impressive debut.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Pelagic Records
Album
LOOK AND BEHOLD
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Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
39:11
RELEASE DATE:
26th Sept 2011
TRACK LISTING
1) Hath
2) Deluge (Carnivorous Flux)
3) Bastion
4) Seraphim
5) Hued Tarantula
6) Aye, Commodore
7) Indigo Division
8) Doth
9) Moira Kindle
10) Fire at the Child Actors Guild
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Australia
"Think Burst meets Snapcase but without the clean vocals of the former (bar 'Moira Kindle') and with a sprinkling of Mastodon..."
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