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deaththeleveller ii
Artist: Death The Leveller
Title: II
Genre: Doom Metal
Release Date: 13th March 2020
Label: Cruz Del Sur Music


Album Review

Ah the luck of the Irish... Tonight I write about a band named DEATH THE LEVELLER and their glorious first full length output ‘II’. This four-piece was formed in 2016 in Dublin and is name d after a poem by James Shirley (1596 - 1666).

The label’s press text says: “Ireland’s DEATH THE LEVELLER ‘II’ combines dark, impenetrable Doom with the sweeping arrangements of Epic Metal! There is an air of unassailable melancholy in Irish music. Its ballads, poetry, traditional music and folk traditions all carry the weight of loss of the men and women who experienced hardship and fought so vigorously for their country. Passed down through generations, it’s only natural for young musicians to have melancholy embedded in their DNA. What they do with it, however, is entirely up to them. For DEATH THE LEVELLER, music is the outlet and the common bond between its four members. Therefore, it is no surprise their first full-length album ‘II’ is the perfect union between dark, sweeping Epic Metal and Doom.”

Well, Cruz Del Sur Music brought us last year’s return of legendary Doom band ORODRUIN, so my eternal gratitude is obviously theirs and wrong they are not! This is a damn fine piece of music: well executed, fusing soundscapes where guitar and bass are no mandatory directory for Dowling’s melancholic and pain fuelled vocals. ‘The Crossing’ feels like a wall of sound unstoppably moving forward brick by brick, a depression drenched juggernaut of a song. ‘The Hunt Eternal’ really grips you with its lurking riffs crouching forward, hiding in the darkness, waiting for you and then burst into painful vocals, soothing, dripping with sadness. The authenticity of the compositions is disarming, rendering one helpless leaving you unable to resist the experience.

Most of the time I write and speak about well-made music, good instrumentalists and so on. Most artists I listen to while working are good, skilled at what they do but not everyone feels like the real deal... these guys do. People do whatever you have to do to keep them around making more of this.


Tracklist

01. The Hunt Eternal
02. The Golden Bough
03. So They May Face The Rising Sun
04. The Crossing


Line-up

Dave Murphy – Bass
Shane Cahill – Drums
Gerry Clince – Guitars
Denis Dowling – Vocals


Website

https://www.facebook.com/deaththelevellerdoom


Cover Picture

deaththeleveller ii


Rating

Music: 10
Sound: 9
Total: 9.5 / 10




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