It's Monday and Mondays suck, so let's grind it out with Elder Devil's The Light Dimmed Eternal.
Heat his hitting the U.S. country wide. But you know this if you don't live in a freezer. So, as the heat decides to crank up its bullshit, I figured this column better too. This latest Elder Devil release is another piece that I've been meaning to shed some light on recently. Or at least I'm trying to, but it just vacuums that stuff up.
If you missed out on the Fresno, CA's first grinder Graves Among The Roots, well, so did I. No reason to sleep on this band any longer though. The four-piece of Elder Devil are more than just a grind unit. Utilizing moments of sludge, doom and black metal to drive in the darkness, they're making some of the most intense grind in the current genre.
"Empty" opens quietly enough. A distorted voice comes on about a man walking into an emergency room and mumbling.The voice becomes more distorted, discussing things like schizophrenia until the instruments slam into place like a hammer through glass. It's like Elder Devil are trying to give us an icebreaker intro until the song pushes into an amalgamation of black metal and grind. It's a brutal, rude awakening that shakes things up and snaps one to attention.
The Light Dimmed Eternal isn't an album that's playing about. It's an album that conjures up evil and intensity at every turn. "The Space Behind Your Eyes" is as melodic as it is grinding. The chord progression adds a layer of unease, like someone chasing you down the stairs while dragging a knife across the railing. However, the track takes a punkier approach as it pushes on but never loses sight of the horror it begins with, just trading it out for mid-tempo punches. And it's in these places one can hear the sludge and doom influnces. "Celebration of the Black Prince" is especially notable in this regard, with a heaviness that evokes something like Eyehategod, but still remains on the fringe of grind.
"I Am The Way" is a track that Elder Devil use to great advantage when it comes to album flow. A click opens the song and things never really speed up from there. Intensity builds and the song pushes forward, but things never go crazy. Everything, rather, is confined. It's almost like a moment of holding back, but it's also like Elder Devil is showing off how they're able to create madness without going mad. "Back Into The Womb" expands on this feeling with a harder focus black metal.
Bottom line, it's time you listened to Elder Devil. The Light Dimmed Eternal is one of this year's strongest grind offerings. And even if grind isn't your thing, there's something here to shake you up. Elder Devil know how to grind down and bring in other genres without things sounding forced. So, let The Light Dimmed Eternal swallow up your Monday and its burning heat and get grinding on this!
