The U.S. death/doom genre has its champion back at the helm in Loss out of Tennessee. After putting out one of the finest examples of the medium in 2004’s demo Life Without Hope…Death Without Reason Loss kept us at bay with three split efforts in the interim, only to return to an even better form by way of Despond, a more obstreperous collective that rings in the head with all of the subtlety of a post-partum depressive episode. Without benefit of witty banter and adjectives to lull you into the album, I’ll simply state that it’s a step up to greatness and was well worth the wait.

I could sit here and banter on and on with all of the literary diction I could muster about how ‘simply amazing’ or ‘brilliantly crafted’ this effort is, but the short-and-sweet of it is that Despond impressively hits all of the proper lows, affording no dismissal or plasticity to the music. “Cut Up, Depressed and Alone” offers no armor to the music fan taking in this sheer sonic despair; what the music does leave behind is a plethora of disturbingly sorrowed passages and riffs that fans of Warning might truly enjoy, but without Patrick Walker’s moaning wail as a guide. Mike Meacham’s growl is the entrance to a psychological catharsis that can only follow one path throughout the whole of Despond. With the music serving as a catalyst for utter abandonment and mental lethargy, it’s hard not to appear forlorn while swallowing this release. Simply put, it is melancholy at its most poignant point, horror at its least honorable peak and sadism at its most sincere.

The concepts of loss and reclusiveness can be supplemented with tracks like “An Ill Body Seats My Sinking Sight”, which delivers a brutal kick to the back of the neck to all that dismiss it as rhetorical rehashes of yet another doomy death metal outfit scoring ghost points for originality. Such is not the case, as Loss has found the tightrope walk along such a fine edge easy to balance with songs that literally encompass-and-eviscerate as they move along. The title track alone is filled with sad resentment and bitterness that one might feel moving through an old parlor in a home of a parent or grandparent that has just passed on, leaving grief and emptiness to languish in every shadow cast through wayward sunlight as it spills over from nearly-closed drapery into the room. When you see the wonderfully dark photographs Opeth used for Deliverance or Damnation the visual of a post-mortem period piece is quite tangible, where Loss creates such a mental tapestry with rudely pressed notes that ring out amidst a torrent of bass lines that resound like a German army battalion marching in unison past a crowd of beleaguered minions. It should be noted that the cover art for Despond takes an ‘Opethian’ page right out of the book of dark photography, but it’s simply a cool byproduct of the larger picture: the music itself.

While this album isn’t ‘ugly’ in the traditional sense of the word (or even the abstract for that matter) there is nothing light or ‘up’ about it either. It’s a valuable segue way into all that is wrong with the human psyche as a functioning entity all too often polluted with external stimuli that never seems to answer questions as to how to suffer with dignity. Loss offers your suffering a soundtrack to which only the most fatigued few will find serenity in failure.

TRACK LISTING

*By clicking "Submit" you agree to the following Terms of Use. You agree not to post any material that is obscene, slanderous, or threatening, or that may violate any law of your country of origin or the United States or of international law. Should you wish to restrict viewing of your email address by third parties, you must select "Hide My Email." You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Metal Psalter from any claims, actions, suits, damages, or other costs arising out of any breach of these Terms of Use.

*Comments:

1.  Weathering the Blight
2.  Open Veins to a Curtain Closed
3.  Cut Up, Depressed and Alone
4.  Deprived of the Void
5.  An Ill Body Seats My Sinking Sight
6.  Despond
7.  Shallow Pulse
8.  Conceptual Funeralism Unto
      the Final Act (of Being)
9.  Silent and Completely Overcome
10.  The Irreparable Act

Total playing time:  01:06:51

Release Date: May 31, 2011
Label: Profound Lore Records

Loss - Despond

Reviewer: Chris

June 13, 2011