New York City’s In This House of Mourning today self-release their debut album, Penance. The record’s arrival — digital first — comes just a short couple weeks after the record was announced and the first song premiered, so yes, it is very much a DIY, this-is-a-thing-and-here-it-is kind of affair. If there’s to be hype, it will come after the fact, and though Penance is short at just 21 minutes and will probably be regarded as an EP when In This House of Mourning‘s spearhead and former member of atmosludgers Mountain God, Ben Ianuzzi (guitar, bass, synth and so on) moves on toward an inevitable next release, its impact is still noteworthy for the grim ambience it creates as well as its willingness to wholly engage the stench of NY-style death metal.

To wit, the chug that emerges in the second half of opening track “The Path Worn Down,” also the aforementioned lead single. At 9:53, it’s the longest of the three inclusions (immediate points), and with grunts and growls over slow-motion, high-density distortion, the vibe is pure death-doom. But that chug, which returns again at the end met by squiggly guitar sounds overlaid, feels like a dogwhistle to those who know from whence that rawness springs. It’s a long regional history of death metal that has refused frills or, for the most part, the prog bent that has consumed much of extreme metal’s fare over the course of the current generation of acts. Ianuzzi, with that simple chug, calls out that influence even as In This House of Mourning‘s sound grows more expansive, pulling from doomed tempos and an insular darkness that goes beyond simply playing slow.

Keyboards and various synth bring depth to the procession and are by and large responsible for the melodies, as the three-minute “Judgement” confirms in its quiet stretch of grieving. This in turn gives way to the crashing introduction of “Cruel Death,” which moves further along all lines, more fluidly shifting between the various sides, from its initial heft and keyboard-inclusive crawl to the subdued guitar that patiently leads to reinvigorated lurch before, just after four minutes in, the vocals grow somehow harsher and the pace kicks up for a time, laying a claim early in the project’s tenure to bursts of pure death that may or may not be fleshed out on subsequent outings. Before the song is done, Ianuzzi brings it back around to the melodic keys and the grueling dirge nod, but having gone there invariably casts an effect on the mood with which “Cruel Death” closes Penance, and most importantly, that seems to be a purposeful choice.

Where Penance might lead, or when, it beats me, but for In This House of Mourning, it’s clear this first offering is an exploration of sound and style on the part of Ianuzzi and a few select initials-only compatriots, and the results are morose in a way that brings to mind classic ’90s death-doom while still ready to gnash its teeth on something more distinctly brutal. For Ianuzzi, who was kind enough to give some words to the motivations behind the songs, the difference seems to be one of introspection.

Below, you can stream the premiere of Penance by In This House of Mourning in its entirety, and read more from Ianuzzi, find the order link, and all that good stuff. It’s down there in the blue. You know how this goes.

Enjoy:

Ben Ianuzzi on Penance:

I guess I’ll say this. Given the order of the songs- PWD, J, CD — it’ll be obvious in the lyrics that its kind of an attack on the kinds of people that say lovely things about someone once they die. How people sort of glorify people at the end, as if it’s somehow honorable. Death is cruel, and sometimes people live out their miserable lives and are just as miserable at the end.

They may pretend that they aren’t — and others say kind words about them to make it seem like the end was peaceful — but a lot of that is just to make the survivors feel better.

And while I wrote the music before (which I more or less played every instrument on, and wrote the lyrics) I wrote the lyrics, everything just fit. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t write about such a morose topic because I wrote funeral doom songs — it was very genuine.

Whereas Mountain God was very impersonal, and was very outward in its anger, this band is much more personal. It’s much more inward-facing.

So while everything I said in the press release was true, deeper below the surface, these songs are pretty much my innermost feelings. Less driven by exterior issues and more personal thoughts.

Order: https://inthishouseofmourning.bandcamp.com/releases

Recorded by Aady Pandit
The Underground Lair
Queens, NY, 2021

Music, arrangements, and lyrics by B.I.

Musicians:
B.I.- guitars, bass, synths/organs
V.C- guitar
G.D- drums
J.A- vocals
A.P- synths, production

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Tags: In This House of Mourning, In This House of Mourning Penance, New York City, Penance, Queens, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2022 at 10:55 am and is filed under audiObelisk, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.