Detritivore “Pakt” CD/LP

The latest from the always curious and atypical Lyderhorn Records is "Pakt"—a six-song, 35-minute journey from Norwegian outfit Detritivore. The label states that the release is "essentially a concept album depicting disillusionment with religion and subsequent descent into darkness", and describes the material as "a harrowing experience of not quite drone, not quite noise, and not quite doom metal, but a true amalgamation of the three". I'd have to agree with that assessment, as the majority of the material sees sparse appearances of subtly fluttering clean guitars or concrete riffs bubbling up to the surface amidst spacious layers of pulsing, ominous hums and gritty, sustained power chords. Assorted little background textures also creep in from time to time (occasionally with some excellent panning effects to keep you on your toes), and you could describe a handful of moments as "psychedelic" atmospheres, but that stripped down type of ambient doom/drone delivery is definitely the dominant factor overall. As far as I can tell there are some droning vocals in the opening track, but that's about it, and there's no percussion either. Many bands of this nature tend to let the compositions run on and on and on—be it through hypnotic repetition or loose, open-ended improvisation—but thankfully that's not the case with Detritivore. I'd say both of those tactics play a role here from time to time, but most of the songs hover right around five or six minutes long, so you don't feel like you're sitting down for a marathon-length test of endurance with this album at all. Here's one track to give you an idea of what the band has to offer:

Detritivore "Pakt"

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