Neufeld is one of a number of guests set to appear on the band’s forthcoming new album.
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Neufeld is one of a number of guests set to appear on the band’s forthcoming new album.
The post Dead Tired (Alexisonfire) Debut “Dust Storm” Featuring Comeback Kid’s Andrew Neufeld appeared first on Theprp.com.
Music as a medium to process sorrow and grief manifests in many different ways. There is the delicate, mellifluous variety where islands of respite are offered even as the emotions cut deep, and the act of expressing the grief is like a cleansing rain. On the other end of the spectrum, it can lash out, making you feel every tortured agony that the musician was feeling.
On Graveyards of Joy, Spain’s TodoMal offers a gloom-ridden ride through all the stages of grief. This is their third full-length album since their formation in 2020 and the conclusion of a trilogy. Appropriately, it is the most dynamic and grandiose album of their career, with deeper arrangements and more complex ideas. Having been written in the wake of a personal tragedy, it has a greater emotional weight that is readily apparent throughout its runtime.
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The album’s opening salvo is dark, heavy, and full of anger, in which crushing doom riffs and haunting dissonances are extremely common. In particular, “Point of Coalescence” provides a towering, resonant riff, backed by ghostly organs and menacing orchestrations, obsessing over death and shame. It might be the most prototypical doom metal song on the record.
From there, Graveyards of Joy switches things up significantly. Its middle section takes a break from the heavy sorrows, trading it in for a more pensive grief and more progressive, intricate arrangements. Acoustic guitars and mournful leads come to the forefront, invoking the feeling that this pain can be dealt with. “Misericordiah” is an island of fragility in the ocean of doom, a delicate and dusty acoustic piece. The longer track “Deliverance” likewise brims with melancholy, unfolding gracefully into a complex and layered arrangement that perhaps goes on for a bit too long, whereas “Unholy” is a more uptempo depressive rock tune.
Finally, we reach the last stage – acceptance. The last two tracks on the album, “For Mercy” and the title track, provide some measure of catharsis. “Graveyards of Joy” is a cinematic song with long, drawn-out chords and slow, mournful melodies. Grief is still very much a part of the theme, but the anger and pain have diminished from the lyrics and the music, leaving only acceptance. It’s not so much healing as it is learning to live with the existence of the pain.
The most obvious comparison to Graveyards of Joy would be Judgement-era Anathema, with the gloom-laden vocal melodies and the unending, heart-wrenching grief. The harmonized vocal parts on “Humanised Gods” and “Lucid Nightmare,” in particular, call to mind how Anathema’s Vincent Cavanagh writes vocals. The album doesn’t reach quite the same heights as the aforementioned legends, but moments like these are still enjoyable and engaging. The main difference is that TodoMal is still in touch with their heavier side and has not shied away from traditional doom metal. Other songs, such as “Deliverance,” call to mind Katatonia or even Swallow the Sun in spots.
Throughout Graveyards of Joy, the musicianship is restrained. There are no exceedingly technical or shred passages, with TodoMal instead choosing to let the vocals take the spotlight, a strong choice on their part. This style of doom metal is better served by sparse and emotional playing rather than technical shredding. An example is the lovely slide guitar leads that show up from time to time, a beautiful choice for adding an extra layer to the overall tapestry.
Graveyards of Joy, as a collection of songs, offers dynamic songwriting, a wide range of moods spanning the spectrum from light acoustic to heavy doom, and a cohesive theme. As a monument to grief, pain, anger, and the way humans process these feelings, it nails the mood. It shifts through desolation, fear, anger, sorrow, and more. It is not a masterpiece, but it doesn’t need to be. It is simply a personal journey through grief, from the heavy doom metal weight of anger and pain, through the desolate melodic wandering of depression, and finally, the pyrrhic uplifting of acceptance.
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Graveyards of Joy releases tomorrow via Season of Mist.
Producer Mark Lewis oversaw this latest record.
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