Bereft – Leichenhaus
Genre: Doom, Sludge
Label: The End Records
After another looooong and unscheduled break, FuneralRain.net is back to clean up the mess it’s made. I’ve been sitting on a pile of promos that have remained untouched for the past month and a half! But now I’m back to touch the shit out of them! (Inappropriately too!)
A big thanks to The End Records for sending me that box of Opeth albums a few months back! Although, I believe that I failed to mention that I didn’t just get Opeth promos… there was a straggler that almost got left behind: Bereft and their debut album, Leichenhaus. Apparently though, Bereft was originally formed under the name Bewilderbiest. While I think we all agree that Bewilderbeast is a much better name, I think anyone else who has listened to this album will also agree that this was the ONLY mistake they made!
Bereft is comprised of members from almost all walks for metal: Derek Rydquist (The Faceless), Sacha Dunable (Intronaut), Derek Donley (Graviton) and Charles Elliot (Abysmal Dawn). If you’re expecting a full on melting pot of musical radness, you’ll be disappointed. However, if you’re the only person to guess correctly and foresee these guys form a sludgy doom group, you’ll be ecstatic! Leichenhaus (German for mortuary) is something of a concept album revolving around death, the dying and the recently dead. Bereft captures this motif perfectly and isn’t afraid to completely submerge you in a terribly depressive lake of formaldehyde for your troubles.
Normally, this is were I’d try to relate this band to others of the same or similar genres and styles. Yes, there are a few I could name, but I think the actual inspirational credits and influential kudos go to the likes of death, cemeteries, Tibetan monks, grieving, loss and the like.
Vocally, Charles Elliot leads the way with some pretty simple bellows that seem to take little effort to belt out. However, it’s why he does with them that makes them fit in so well. I can’t quite describe it so you’ll just have to listen for yourselves. Accordingly, the instrumentation is top notch in every aspect! The only down side is that I had to turn off my bass boost on my laptop since the guitar is toned down to bass levels while the bass is toned down to Mariana Trench depths. The feedback and pitchy noises coming from my computer were distracting and for a second I thought that they were part of the album! Good thing I’m not a TOTAL jackass…
Overall: Leichanhaus is an ear opening dirge into the halls of the dead and is easily one of the best albums I’ve heard in 2012! Listen for the bells…
9.5/10
- Typhon
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