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Dragged Into Sunlight: Widowmaker

24/01/13  ||  gk

“Widowmaker” is the second album from the UK based collective “Dragged into Sunlight” and this is one awe inspiring album. The band or collective are supposedly made up of scene veterans who play live wearing balaclavas and are simply known by single initials. Sounds pretentious and hipsterish enough but what these fellows do is actually back it up with some crushing music.

“Widowmaker” is essentially one long 40 minute song and should be listened to in that way even if these 40 minutes are divided into 3 parts. “Part I” is a slow burning 14 minute instrumental piece with a clean guitar bringing to life a sparse and haunting atmosphere. A plaintive violin melody first makes its appearance at around the 9:30 mark and lifts the song to melancholic chamber music akin to Amber Asylum and bands of that ilk. This is truly powerful, melancholic and haunting at the same time as the violin slowly builds to dominate the soundscape.

A well placed sample breaks the reverie just in time for the monstrous second part to start. This is some powerful sludgy, death-doom with harsh screams and a thick, suffocating atmosphere and the moment when “Part I” so seamlessly moves into “Part II” is one of my favourite musical moments from 2012. The vocals take a variety of approaches and are really effective in conveying a mood of despair and misery but it’s the crushing riffs that will really grab your attention. When the violin makes its return, it’s buried beneath the guitars and requires some serious concentration to fully catch and understand. The last 3 minutes or so descend into swirling guitar lines and an impenetrable mass of chaos with samples hidden beneath the music but comes to a close with a strangely uplifting riff progression that works beautifully with everything that’s come before. Also, pay attention to the bass playing here because there is some mad shit happening.

“Part III” is probably the most sludge influenced part of the album and the music takes on a wretched atmosphere with slow, pounding riffs and tortured screams that act as a counterpoint to the ending of “Part II” and bring you back down to earth. This part constantly shifts in mood and it would be an exercise in futility to describe everything that happens here. Suffice to say that it all comes together superbly. Highlights for me were the softer distortion filled moments with unsettling electronic noises coming from the left speaker while the right has a slow and supremely heavy sludge/doom riff, the incredibly heavy and thick bass tone that provides a weighty bottom end to the music and the huge riff that hits around the 8:30 mark.

“Widowmaker” is some truly powerful music. This is one complex, well thought out and superbly executed album that has so many layers and hidden facets to it that I’m still discovering new stuff every time I play it.

If I’d given it enough time last year, it would have easily been in my top 5 and as it stands this is simply one of the best albums of 2012. Anyone with even the slightest interest in slow and heavy music needs to listen to this album but don’t press play unless you have a full 40 minutes to devote. This is powerful, essential music from one hell of a band.

9

  • Tracklist
  • 01. Part I
  • 02. Part II
  • 03. Part III

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