SubRosa - No Help for the Mighty Ones

From the very first chords of SubRosa’s sophomore effort No Help for the Mighty Ones the musical disfigurement literally spills over like an outdated bottle of syrup. These downtrodden, blatantly dismal notes assemble to make an album of impressive substance. This is doom metal of caustic design with depressive violins and a somber, perfectly-labored female vocal that is one of the more depressing records I’ve heard in some time, and I love it!

I’m a sucker for depressive music, it’s true; the slim-to-none vibe throughout such harmonized eulogies gets me every time. I suppose it’s a channeling of personal demons through the notions of another’s understanding, who knows? SubRosa is a disturbing, yet inspiring jaunt through every dismal entity that resides in the closed corners of a tortured soul. Kim Pack’s vocals are not your typical female metal vocal; that is, there is no high-pitched wailing and screeching over boring power metal triviality. Her style is nestled somewhere between an indifferent speaker at a funeral singing her praises and Terry O’Leary from Leather Angel. It doesn’t find the need to overpower as much as it does to frighten and feign illumination. She’s wonderfully dim and perfectly ambivalent in her delivery. This is especially evident in “Beneath the Crown”, one of the most intense tracks I’ve listened to in some time. The overall destitution leveled under a swarm of C-chords and beleaguered violins can truly engulf you.

Musically sound and technically impressive, SubRosa gives new meaning to the ‘doom metal’ tag, offering a sincere and pestilent feeling of despair throughout. While most bands attempt this style and come up short, SubRosa defines it to the proverbial “T”, proving that there is still life in the prospect of death. The production on No Help for the Mighty One is just right for this type of constructed chaos; the guitars give way to the electric violins, which, in this case, are far more fertile than any other instrument on the record. The exception here is a song like “Stonecarver”, which is every Necromandus riff you might never have heard put to perfect use some 35-years after the fact. There’s actually a jazzy feel to the otherwise discerning pummeling you experience only three songs into the album. Every song on this album is a melancholy venture into parts unknown, only to arrive and wonder what the hell imbued to even follow in the first place. It’s definitely not a trip to be taken lightly and you will remember a feeling of helplessness if not a particular riff or melody.           

“Attack on Golden Mountain” is one of the more despairing tracks on the album. Even Pack’s slightly off-key delivering of lines like “They’re coming fast now--/Blood on the snow--/He holds her hand--/shuts her lifeless eyes-“ makes for perfect company as a very dark chime sound rings shadowy overhead. Every sadistic mood you may draw from the perils of life can be validated within this one-hour opus to the tempestuous mindset. It’s a definitive experience for the trained and untrained malcontent.   

Release Date: March 1, 2011
Label: Profound Lore

TRACK LISTING

1.  Borrowed Time, Borrowed Eyes
2.  Beneath The Crown
3.  Stonecarver
4.  The Inheritance
5.  Attack On Golden Mountain
6.  Whippoorwill
7.  House Carpenter
8.  Dark Country

Total playing time:  58:58

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Chris

March 17, 2011