Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
France’s trio of all that is pivotal, punishing progressive doom, Crackhouse, is back with a new release, ‘Be No One. Be Nothing‘. The 3-song full-length album was dropped back on October 6th via Italy’s Argonauta Records and simply put, it is a crusher, friends. By that I mean, it crushes of course but it also does a lot, lot more.
Made of three long songs for a total running time of fifty minutes, this album is a stunning work of transcendental compositions. Although intensely heavy, the music provided by the players, Jean-Baptiste Carton, Simon Morlec, and Guillaume Vailant, is means of an otherworldly escape too. There are heady, darker, psyche-driven nuances present within it also.
Things begin here with the eighteen-minute-plus “I. Burden” which, after a spoken word directive, ignites with grunge-y guitar riffing. A burst of patterned drumming joins in and we are well upon our way into a realm of hand-hewn density. The seemingly circular-like drumming propels things as the vocals are intentionally placed lower in the mix, giving them a distant-sounding quality. There is a major directional change mid-way through the song as everything tapers down. A more ethereal vibe surfaces as the minimalist musical content seems to ebb forth, airy guitars and slowed drumming reinforces that feeling.
The approach is reproduced for the start of “II. Harva“, a haunting intro of chant and thundering drum. It is the calm before the storm though for things ultimately explode into a flurry of grumbling guitars. Everything bombards you with wave after wave of bleaker, stonerific doom. The vocals are presented in an aggressively shouted fashion and everything about this song is dauntingly suspenseful.
The real stand-out of the album arrives with the profoundly all-encompassing scope of “III. Realm“. At a little under twenty-three minutes of playing time, the song is a mind-altering journey into the deepest corners of [the] Crackhouse mystique. It begins with very eerie, but tranquil, effect-laden music and psyche flare, heady and sedate.
Once again, Crackhouse delivers a hit that will blow your mind the moment you intake. This trio is undoubtedly one of the most lysergic sludge units upon this planet or any other. Check out ‘Be No One.Be Nothing‘ now via the embed below.
