Shallow Grave, Shallow Grave: Get Digging
The level to which New Zealander four-piece Shallow Grave carry listeners with them along their undulating downer path isn’t necessarily commensurate to the volume at which their self-titled debut is played, but more never hurt. On the six-track/55-minute outing, released by Astral Projection (Lamp of the Universe, Arc of Ascent), the Auckland outfit oppress almost universally, beginning with a cold atmospheric introduction to “Devil’s Harvest” and never quite losing that sensibility at any time throughout their assault. They are, impressively so for a first record, markedly individual within their sphere, with a sound that takes elements of sludge, post-metal (some “tribal” drumming here, some Neurosis guitar wail there), but despite coming across with considerable tonal largesse on the album itself still manage to maintain a raw sensibility as well – crust almost, but slower and more complex, with a subtle swirl that offsets the barking vocals. Comprised of Tim Leth, James Barker, Brent Bidlake and Mike Rothwell, they’re an outfit who keep their origins obscure but who’ve been playing out since at least 2010, and have obviously used that time well in developing this material, which is drawn together by ambient drones and samples that pull the listener along from one track into the next, as “Devil’s Harvest” moves into “Chemical Fog” once it has run its fervently abrasive course with low hum and high-pitched whistle, amp noise maybe run through an echo chamber. Shallow Grave are hardly the first band to use this method to unite their pieces into a single whole, but it works for them throughout here, and on the one occasion when they don’t – the later “From Boundless Heights,” which feedbacks its way into “To Unfathomable Depths” – the effect is even more complementary. At their heart, though, they pummel. “Chemical Fog,” which moves at a faster clip than the opener, gives no ground in terms of its tonal heft, and it’s a ferocious headphone listen, all the more consuming without distraction for the intricacies that show themselves in the two guitars at work and the layers of screams that show up as the song moves past its halfway point. The ensuing samples are well mixed and well met by the band’s crashes, but it’s the final mostly-instrumental (some ambient screams) push that most satisfies, the track arriving at a massive peak before being consumed to a rising wall of painful low-end static noise.
From there, they cut right into “Nameless Chants,” which rounds out the first half of the album. Shallow Grave is broken into de facto sides – three tracks on one, three tracks on another, broken up in the listing on the back cover of the CD – though at 55 minutes, it’s longer than an actual single LP would hold and “Nameless Chants” feeds as much into “From Boundless Heights” as anything else does to what follows. Still, the sense of structure remains resonant throughout, and it’s a handy tool for understanding part of Shallow Grave’s approach and the influences they’re working from, putting them in line with the tropes of more traditional doom without necessarily forging a stylistic alliance that might not comport with the droning, hypnotic repetitions of “Nameless Chants,” which works its way through several movements instrumentally, one led by the guitar, one led by the drums, gnashing and gnarling for a full five minutes before introducing a verse on vocals. This switch in compositional method comes at just the right time to throw off listeners, who might have a sense of knowing what to expect after “Devil’s Harvest” and “Chemical Fog,” which had their differences in tempo but essentially covered the same ground structurally. “Nameless Chants” is a harder read where it’s most needed, and the final slowdown serves as a crashing, crushing apex for the self-titled’s initial three cuts. With the linear listening experience of the CD, there’s no dip in momentum between that apex and the beginning of “From Boundless Heights,” the shortest track on Shallow Grave at just over five minutes – everything else tops eight, the opener 10 and the closer 15 – that continues the rush preceding and develops over its course into a furious churn topped by chaotic leads and screams that still manage to return to the song’s own march. Together, “From Boundless Heights” and “To Unfathomable Depths” account for the most distinctly post-metal section of the record, with the plod of the former leading straight into the gradually-arriving, lurching howl of the latter. Even here though – and for this I’ll give at least partial credit to the screamed vocals – Shallow Grave retain an identity of their own, keeping the atmosphere consistent with the rest of the album and the crushing sonics moving forward through loud/quiet tradeoffs.
“To Unfathomable Depths” begins at a creep, but bursts to fuller lurch within its first minute. Still building, post-rock guitar ambience tops a dirge march until at 2:30 into the total 8:23, the echo drops and the song hits its stride. This is shortlived, as a drop to sparse guitar and ride hits underscored by amp noise carries past the halfway point – Shallow Grave have essentially torn down the wall of sound they created to start over, and the crashes that ensue are some of the slowest on the album – something a less industrial Batillus might toy with. It’s a ploy. When “To Unfathomable Depths” kicks in again at around 5:30, its pace is quicker, more of an onslaught than a smothering. This movement carries through and is built on for the rest of the song until a sample from the 1980 film Altered States reminds us there is no ultimate truth and “To Unfathomable Depths” segues into closer “City of the Dead,” which dedicates about 11 minutes of its 15:39 to pay off what’s come before until a final drone carries to the finish. The last track begins with a count-in on the hi-hat and a relatively straightforward riff backed by darkened psychedelic swirl, keeping some of the Neurosis feel of “To Unfathomable Depths” but moving more into a distinctly doomed vibe before the guitars step back to let bass rumble and drums underscore an initial verse. They come back in (of course), and the build proceeds to get louder, heavier and more chaotic until spacing out around the six-minute mark to atmospherics and periodic drums crashes, another sample (this one from 1990’s Jacob’s Ladder) providing a transition point to a direct build into what’s clearly intended as the peak of Shallow Grave’s Shallow Grave – the concluding instrumental thrust that eventually, smoothly, gives way to the aforementioned drone. They end heavy, though I’m not convinced their last section at full-force is any heavier than the viciousness preceding, and as it leads to nothing, the noise that follows seems an afterthought after the first minute or so, though the echoing guitar sounds that remain far back in the mix prove an effective lead-out. Whatever stage of growth the band might be at as they mark their first release, Shallow Grave makes righteousness of its heavier moments and finds brooding depth in its ambience, without telegraphing each move it makes and the transitions between. Even its samples – a last-second one from The Devil’s Rejects is tossed in at the very end – don’t feel overdone, and while its tone and aggression aren’t to be overlooked, what’s most striking about Shallow Grave’s first outing is the stylistic balance they strike and how well they exploit it to individualized ends. You could probably sit and contemplate that for a while, or you could just put it on again and let it cave in your skull. Either way, you don’t lose.
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Tags: Astral Projection, Auckland, New Zealand, self-titled, Shallow Grave, Shallow Grave self-titled
