By Monk
There I was, sitting minding my own business in what used to be my local pub, sipping a pint of warm cider, when a mate walked in, thrust his ‘phone in my face and asked “what do you think?”. It was some very raw – and I mean RAW – shot footage of a band rehearsal. I nodded in polite appreciation: it was hard to make an automatic, never mind accurate, judgement: it was very much in the demo stage, there was shitty rave nonsense blasting over the pub PA – and I’d had a few… Then, Matthias (said mate in question) fucked off home to his native Iceland, the pandemic hit and, well, that was that… or was it? Wind the clock forward to a few weeks ago and I find myself face to face with my old mucker – and, guess what? That wasn’t quite that, as the band featured in that very same video are now preparing to release their second EP, recorded against the challenges of both the intervening pandemic and the challenge of half the band being based in Iceland and the rest in ÜR’s home city of Belfast…
As it’s title suggests , this four-track EP is the second part of a conceptual trilogy, telling the story of a protagonist called Damion’s nightmarish journey through a mysterious decrepit mansion. In this second instalment, our (anti)hero finds himself confronted with manifestations of four of the seven deadly sins, in the form of envy, greed, lust and gluttony. I must admit that I missed the first part of the series – Matt swears he sent it to me, but it obviously got lost in the vagaries of the ÜR email system – but the quick dispatch of a few quid to the band’s Bandcamp account rectified that criminal oversight.
It proved to be a worthy investment, as that debut is a solid, if still very nascent, affair, combining the dense NOLA-esque sludge of the likes of EyeHateGod with the dark doom of early Paradise Lost and neat sub-thrash miens in a cohesive and confident manner
, with large degrees of atmospherics, including a few unclean, metalcore-style vocals thrown in for good measure.
And so we come to the second instalment, which sees our protagonist confronted with manifestations of four of the seven deadly sins, in the form of envy, greed, lust and gluttony, each translated into the four tracks which we are again offered herein. And ‘HoG II’ very much picks up where the first volume left off, with lead single ‘Viridian Haze’ chugging and grinding like the natural successor to its predecessor, ‘In Slumbers Embrace’, but also immediately introducing a very significant change to the band’s sound, and that is the addition of female vocals, which add a suitably ethereal, gothic twist to the otherwise dense yet hypnotic soundscape.
The addition of Saidhbhe (who also adds keyboards to the progressing aural mix) perfectly complements lead vox A, who himself veers seamlessly between Ian Anderson-style folkishness (see second track ‘Avance’) and Tom G Warrior-evoking death growls. Behind this vocal pairing, the band are tighter than a rusty bolt, mixing together some seriously chugging riffs into a brighter, more proggy soundscape than that of the first opus while still retaining that all important hypnotic density.
The result is an EP that draws from a rich well, drinking deep from it and sating the thirst of all but the most cynical metalhead. DMC may describe their sound as “gloom metal” and have a mission to depress as many people as possible, but they are a band with a very bright future who will bring a lot of happiness to your eardrums should you choose to wrap them around this highly impressive sophomore offering. I look forward to hearing the final chapters of this story.
- ‘House Of Gomorrah Vol II’ is released on 19 August. You can get your copy HERE.
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