With their 2014 debut album The Human Cry, Portland duo Muscle and Marrow established a unique musical identity for themselves. The Human Cry rested comfortably between doom, folk, Goth and ambient music, striking a balance between the four and other styles. Between Kira Clark’s haunting and jaw-dropping vocal chops and her dreary guitar playing, and Keith McGraw’s pulsing drumming and harrowing soundscapes, the band offered something that toed the line between gorgeous melancholia and intense, dark atmospheres. It set itself apart from other “dark music” albums because it didn’t rely on gimmicks and its raw, emotional expressiveness seemed genuine.
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All posts for the day May 9th, 2016
Those who have been following Plebeian Grandstand through the years will not be totally surprised by the direction they take on their third full-length offering, False Highs, True Lows. The French racket makers started out life as a furious, chaotic hardcore outfit with dissonant mathcore tendencies. But there was a darker edge to their sound that set them apart from other hardcore, mathcore, what have you bands in their category. This darker side, which shared similarities with modern black metal, would be explored further as they progressed. By the time 2014’s Lowgazers was unveiled to the world, Plebeian Grandstand had assimilated atonal, writhing, apocalyptic black metal nuances à la Deathspell Omega into their technical hardcore sound. They had been gradually leading up to the sound presented on Lowgazers since their 2010 debut, How Hate is Hard to Define. So, as previously stated, fans won’t be surprised that the band plummet further into the technical black metal abyss on their newest record. False Highs, True Lows is the most logical and natural step forward for this band and it delivers some of their most well-constructed, atmospheric and downright evil sounding material to date.