Merlock Premiere “Where No One Goes” From You Cannot Be Saved EP
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 16th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Spokane, Washington, weirdo sludge trio Merlock release their new offering, You Cannot Be Saved, on Nov. 19. Gadzooks, that’s Friday! They’ve pressed the six-song/40-minute follow-up to last year’s That Which Speaks (review here) — a title referenced in the creepy whispers here on “Final Condemnation” — to 75 tapes and 100 CDs and already wrapped up a round of tour dates to herald its coming, cruising hither and yon along the Pacific Coast and areas inland. The included tracks date back to the band’s 2018 self-titled demo/EP, with opener “Grimelord” having appeared on that release, but all are re-recorded/reinterpreted by the band as they are these 75 plague-addled years later and complemented by the new song “Where No One Goes” (premiering below), which will reportedly also feature on Merlock‘s first outing as a three-piece sometime in 2022.
The seven-and-a-half-minute “Where No One Goes” is a psychedelic sludge stunner, rife with noise and an undercurrent of plot that shows itself in its second half build of layered, thought-out solos and gradual devolution to noise. I’ve compared the band to earliest YOB before, and I stand by that, but there’s a modern willingness to be harsh throughout You Cannot Be Saved that consumes the early cosmic meanderings of song like “Idolon (Return),” the rawness of “Final Condemnation” seeming at the same time to act as a precursor to “Gloomtrain,” which is bitter sludge, but feels filtered through 
some late ’80s no wave experimentalist impulse; arthouse fuckery set to crucial volume. That’s as far out as Merlock go in the procession, though I won’t take away either from their speedier visit to Black Sabbath‘s “Electric Funeral,” or the wink-wink of tagging the mp3 I got as a Pantera cover. I legit got a chuckle out of that.
When Merlock announced the release of You Cannot Be Saved, they posted a video of the band playing it through from front-to-back — it’s at the bottom of this post, after all my blah blah and the PR wire stuff; you’ll find it — and that shows them as duly noisy, but doesn’t necessarily capture the atmosphere of the songs in the same way as their audio-only incarnation. The echoing cavernousness of “Where No One Goes” becomes part of the message of the song itself, which would seem to draw from a deeper searching of the subconscious for one’s motivations and emotional daily existence — the “shadow work” referred to below. If that effort is what’s being conveyed in the three different movements throughout the track, from the quieter unfolding to the chugging middle and the solo-laced apex, then I’m not sure where it all ends up, but the last crashes and residual rumble that ensues would seem to speak to some manner of discovery. It does not sound comfortable, in any case. Nor does it want to.
One doesn’t expect either the tapes or the CDs to last, but in the spirit of sharing, you can enjoy “Where No One Goes” on the player below, followed by the aforementioned PR wire whatnots.
Dig:
You Cannot Be Saved features reimagined tracks from their first demo and that which speaks…, a never before recorded early track, a new track from their anticipated 2022 full release, and a cover of Electric Funeral. For newcomers and fans alike, You Cannot Be Saved offers an experience down a dour path into the unknown.
Picking up where that which speaks… left off You Cannot Be Saved further explores Merlock’s fascination with shadow work and digging through the sludgey recesses of the mind. Sonically more raw and infinitely heavier than its predecessor, the EP pushes the extremities of Merlock and their post-doom soundscapes.
To support the release, Merlock hit the road for their You Cannot Be Saved Tour, touring the Northwest in November 2021 with dates in California, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho. As they crawl forward through a wall of sound, they smoke out the demons from the inner void. Can you be saved?
Tracklist:
1. Grimelord (Hailey Moore, Taylor D. Waring)
2. Idolon (return) (Taylor D. Waring)
3. Final Condemnation (Andrew Backes, Hailey Moore, Taylor D. Waring)
4. Where No One Goes (Taylor D. Waring)
5. Gloomtrain (Taylor D. Waring)
6. Electric Funeral (Black Sabbath)
Album Credits:
Engineered by Jamie Yeats and Wayne Randall at Black Magick Studios, in Kalispell, MT
Mixed by Nicholas Wilbur at The Unknown in Anacortes, WA
Mastered by Uncle Randy at Sky Ranch Studios
Artwork by RF Pangborn
Layout by Taylor D. Waring
