Benthic Realm Post “As it Burns” Video
Kudos to Massachusetts-based three-piece Benthic Realm — who play both the doom and the metal kinds of doom metal — on not letting 2023 end without reminding any and all in earshot that their debut album came out this year. Five years and one actual plague after their second EP, 2018’s We Will Not Bow (review here), the band comprised of guitarist/vocalist Krista Van Guilder (formerly of Second Grave, Lucubro, WarHorse, etc.), bassist/keyboardist Maureen Murphy (whose fascinating low end path has seen her work with the likes of Negative Reaction and Dimentianon, as well as Second Grave with Guilder, I’m pretty sure Curse the Son for a bit, and a slew of others) and drummer Dan Blomquist (also Conclave) hoisted anchor and took to dark and undulating seas on an hour-long Vessel (review here). Marked by its grim tones, bleak melodicism and downer nods meeting periodically with a growl, a scream, or a particularly deathly riff, the 10-song collection reveals the band’s extreme underpinnings early in the eight-minute “Traitors Among Us” after the intro “Raise the Banners” set the nautical theme.
And all that takes is one low, guttural growl from Van Guilder and the entire sphere of death metal is fair game at any point on the record. That’s maybe a little dramatic in terms of the framing, and at least on their first record, Benthic Realm aren’t interested in going full-on slip-a-disc-windmill-headbanging death metal gruntery, but listening to Vessel, there’s always the threat they might, however far to the other side they might go with the acoustic interlude “Set Adrift” that sets up the album’s rolling highlight title-track. Melody holds the day in terms of balance, which “Course Correct” makes plain after “Traitors Among Us” with a faster but still ultimately comfortable push and an arrangement of layered harmonies from Van Guilder in its apex, and whether she’s singing ‘clean’ — often at least double-tracked; in closer “As it Burns” with the video below, or “Summon the Tide,” the quiet-till-it-isn’t post-Metallica‘s “One” brooding in the second half of “Veiled Embrace,” and so on — or the band are dug into the one-two pairing of “I Will Wait” and “Summon the Tide,” both of which are just 
under nine minutes and each of which lays out its own sprawling but thoughtful path through weighted melodic doom metal that’s more Paradise Lost than Saint Vitus, stately and patient, taking on metal’s symmetry over punk’s urgency, her presence as a songwriter, range as a singer and unafraid-to-be-angular style of riffing are defining factors of the material.
You can’t have heavy without groove, and those among the genre-converted know that’s generally going to come from the rhythm section. What Murphy and Blomquist bring to Vessel is more than tonal oomph to support the melodies and a roll on which to gain momentum, but rest assured, both of those are part of it too. Benthic Realm benefit from a single-guitar configuration in that as Van Guilder takes her solo in the penultimate tempo-kicker chug of “What Lies Beneath,” Murphy and Blomquist are able to hold the rhythm underneath, allowing the song to move forward without giving up one of the record’s most infectious movements, instead working like a classic power trio to build a crescendo that, if “What Lies Beneath” closed, I’d probably tell you had no trouble serving as a payoff for the entirety of the release. Just being honest. Benthic Realm push farther with “As it Burns.”
If you want to think of track 10 as Benthic Realm going to 11, fair enough, but they’re never so over-the-top in “As it Burns” as to sacrifice the poised impression they’ve made over the 50-plus minutes prior (and by mentioning runtime again I’m not ragging on Benthic Realm for making a long record; it’s part of the aesthetic), and it’s once again the vocal melody that distinguishes that last peak the band will hit before the closer’s insistent chug — it sounds like producer Apollo XVII said, “Play it like you’re annoyed waiting for the sound to come out of the speaker,” though that’s not an actual quote — seems to finally decide you’ve had enough and put a couple last holes in the wall on its way out. And there you are, a record that just spent so much time in the water ending with fire and just kind of pulling it off because they do and the songs work and when you have that you’ve got everything.
I’ve gone on for too long. Their debut album was a while in the making, and I’m glad it came out this year. Here’s that video.
Please enjoy:
Benthic Realm, “As it Burns” official video
As It Burns from Benthic Realm’s album “Vessel”
Album available at:
https://benthicrealm.bandcamp.com
Directed by George Capalbo
@georgecapalbo9501
https://georgecapalbo.com/
Formed in July of 2016 in Worcester, MA, USA, Benthic Realm conjures melodies and crushing rhythms from the dark abyss. The trio consists of former Second Grave members Krista Van Guilder (WarHorse, Lucubro) on vocals/guitar and Maureen Murphy on bass, and Dan Blomquist (Conclave) on drums.
