Dying Embrace/Dusk – Through Corridors of Dead Centuries (Split)
Achintya Venkatesh reviews the Dusk and Dying Embrace split EP titled Through Corridors of Dead Centuries, released via Cyclopean Eye Productions.
Doom metal is undoubtedly one of the most idiosyncratic and personal styles of heavy metal, and thus the emotions that encompasses this style of music is hard to fake. ‘Through Corridors of Dead Centuries’ marks the first material of two veteran bands from South Asia – Dying Embrace from Bangalore, India and Dusk from Karachi, Pakistan. This is also their first material in a little less than a decade, and thus their stylistic evolution, apart from their executory finesse relative to their older material will quite obviously be subject to scrutiny.
Dying Embrace’s side of the split certainly brings to fore the compositional growth of the band. Their older material was characterized by a sense of riff phrasing that was simplistic in an exaggeratedly aggrandized manner – riffs driven by elementary enjoyability as much as they sought to create a foreboding atmosphere. These new songs from the band are more focused relative to the jammy plodding of their late 1990s/early 2000s material. ‘Ascendance of Namtar’ for instance showcases a great degree of percussive versatility, never outright blasting but frequently changing pace. The riffs usher in these changes in tempo, juxtaposing mid-paced ritualistic riffing with faster strummed sections that culminate into the chorus. ‘Horns of the Divine’ and ‘Ravagers of the Lamb (March of Bomehond)’ are more mid-paced indulgences; although the latter is more percussively active, yet more recursive; whereas the former pursues a fairly uniform direction. The leads are the highlight throughout, shining through during their harmonic sections and interesting explorations of atonalities and esoteric textures, but yet come across as rather lurid and disjointed during the chorus of a song like ‘Ravagers of the Lamb’. Given the paucity of truly lumbering segments and/or tremolo picked riffs, and most importantly guttural vocals, it is debatable to what extent Dying Embrace lives up to its ascribed death/doom metal designation. The vocals frequently come across as rather tepid and devoid of the booming quality that a Holmes, Reifert or John Alman certainly had in their heyday. It is perhaps more comparable to, say, that of Shrew (of Prophecy of Doom) in their seemingly forced but ultimately weak delivery. The production doesn’t help the band in this regard either, burying the vocals below the instrumentation in the mix. The older material did benefit from its grainy production in this aspect. Thus, Dying Embrace’s material here, while instrumentally compelling strays from its death/doom designation by way of both vocal delivery and riff phrasing. It’s good for what it is, and quite obviously primarily inspired by the Peaceville Records pioneers, but neither juxtaposes syncopated death metal parts with doomier segments like a band such as Decomposed did, nor does it find a balance between the two as can be seen in early Paradise Lost.
Dusk on the other hand has had a rather varied career, dabbling in everything from death, doom, thrash and progressive metal and with this release returning to its death/doom metal roots. While retaining the very same melancholia and melodic sensibilities of its classic catalogue, Dusk takes on a less eclectic and meandering approach, and is straightforward with this output, concentrating ideas into shorter, more compact songs rather than the lumbering, extended compositions as in their debut album ‘My Infinite Nature Alone’. The songs move at a trudging pace, atop which a mix of low, growled vocals with an excellent sense of spatial amplitude, alongside occasional spoken word are delivered by frontman Babar Sheik. This certainly accentuates the melodies, perhaps comparable to early Monumentum or My Dying Bride in the manner the counterpoint between the melody and vocals impressions on the listener. What makes a song like ‘Forged by Fires and Duality’ work so fantastically well is the fact that the band never once completely relies on rhythmic riveting of the songs, and employs melodies in a manner that layers the track while still being recursive, and an ambling song ‘For Majestic Nights’ too reflects the same.
Both the covers of the bands are rather enjoyable listens as well. Dying Embrace’s cover of Autopsy’s ‘Twisted Mass of Burnt Decay’ lacks the vocal enunciation of the original, and also executes the opening riff of the song in a slightly different manner than the original (in terms of both speed of the riff phrasing and minor chord variation). Dusk’s cover of Motorhead’s ‘Bomber’ featuring Shyaithan (of Impiety fame) showcases the thrashier side of the band, although I’d have loved if they had chosen to cover a death/doom classic of some sort. Ultimately, this split release is quite enjoyable although Dusk’s contribution to it is more compelling and faithful to its death/doom roots, while Dying Embrace is more susceptible to ideas that are comparatively upbeat and sprightly.
