Oh good lawdy, Christmas has come early!
Outer Gods, probably my favorite Drone Doom/Dark Ambient group, have made their eighth release and second full length album Through This Unending Chasm a few days ago and I’ve been listening to it since. Outer Gods is a two man outfit from Atlanta, Georgia comprised of “The Wrath” and “The Flail”. I don’t know their real names. Even in interviews they’re referred to as such. They make very Gothic feeling music, and by that I mean the architecture. It’s very large and foreboding with massive arches of sound and ambiance. They use sound clips from movies so obscure you could put the exact phrase into Google and it still wouldn’t find where it was from, a lot of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s horror, and tends to give each song it’s used in its own kind of narrative no matter where they’re put in the song. A little bit of context or flavor goes a long way with these guys and it shows on all their albums.
Through This Unending Chasm is only two songs long but they are a whopping twenty two minutes each and take on almost mirroring qualities. “Initium: The Worm That Dyeth Not” starts out low and quiet but doesn’t stay that way. It quickly builds into this this, static roar of a guitar that builds sound and weight over a solid eight minutes and meet with these crazy tribal drums that add this primal mysticism to an already dark song. “Expletus: The Fire That Is Not Quenched” starts out loud and full of bass with panning reverberations that are almost hypnotic. They disappear into the back of the song into a more ambient noise, coming back in time like a heartbeat. Occasionally a guitar, distorted and sounding like it’s being played in the distance, will puncture the song but always fade out again. Finally it comes back and takes over the song, practically roaring over everything else. Then it’s gone and leaves nothing but crickets chirping and an uneasy but quiet noise in it’s wake.
Through This Unending Chasm is a really distorted album even coming from Lights Dim Eternal, their previous full length. I feel like the split they did with Unit Charge, which was their EP before this one, was kind of a sign that they wanted to make something more harsh and it definitely is. It’s still within Outer Gods realm though and that’s still awesome.
You can get Through This Unending Chasm off their Bandcamp for free right now if you click above or pre-order CD’s and cassettes in the same place for $5.
Because "Wires" Was Taken 