I tend not to speak very "eloquently" about music, even when the situation damn near demands it, as I've always been more of a "from the gut" kind of guy, so... all I can really open up with here is that this track is fucking incredible, and in my opinion shits all over everything Converge has done in the last seven years or so (and no offense intended there, as I'm a fan). Maybe it's partly due to the mood/mental state I've been in as of late, but I'm seriously blown away by how impressive this is. I didn't really know what to expect, but this is way different—just dark, bleak, depressing... somehow fucking morose and utterly evil at the same time. The delivery is relatively consistent and stripped down with some throbbing bass and low-end hums, piano, and layered vocals for sort of an experimental/dark ambient kind of vibe, but obviously with a much more structured and musical backbone, which is awesome. The whole thing sort of builds up very subtly and the six-minute running time passes in the blink of an eye. I generally don't give a shit about "music videos", but there's a very cinematic quality to this piece that could make for some crazy (as in jaw-to-the-floor or gun to your head, or maybe even potentially tearing up—no joke) visual accompaniment given the tone of the whole thing. I absolutely cannot fucking wait for the "Wear Your Wounds" full-length now, because if it's even half as powerful as this 7", it'll be among the best of the year. No doubt. I'm floored here. Here's an extremely brief snippet (go buy this shit):
J. Bannon "The Blood of Thine Enemies" (excerpt)
Forgive this blood on my hands. I reap what I have sown, and who I am. Damned. So damned.
The record is limited to 2,000 copies (available on black, bone, metallic gold, or metallic silver) in one of those nice chipboard envelope sleeves with a matte finish, and each purchase comes with a voucher to download an mp3 of the track (huge selling point, as far as I'm concerned). It looks great, it sounds even better. Get your hands on it now while you still can, 'cause apparently this song's never gonna appear on another release, and I bet they'll sell out pretty damn soon.
Comments
Damn, I was wondering if this was any good. I was really anxious to hear it. I’d buy it, but I’m without a record player and I’m broke as fuck. Haha.
3.17.2008 | By Ryan @ Milkweed Records
fucking vinyls.
3.18.2008 | By Bill
Man, I just don’t get it. I’ve heard this entire EP twice and it just seemed like blatant DIJ worship to me. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as I love that stuff, but I’m just not seeing the innovation here.
3.18.2008 | By Johnny
If you buy the record it comes with a little ticket thing with a code to download the track as an mp3, so you don’t even need a record player. My actual vinyl remains unplayed, and I haven’t really used my record player at all in years. That’s why I love the whole “buy the vinyl and then you can download it for free” concept. If more labels did that shit I would certainly buy more vinyl.
I was listening to Death in June this morning and I wouldn’t compare this at all other than the fact that it’s dark, musical, and experimental at the same time. The vocals are way more emotive and on point than 99% of that “apocalyptic folk” stuff, and the whole tonality of the track is just far more moving - something that I can actually identify with and glean feeling from as opposed to so much esoteric artsiness in that whole scene. I’m not even looking at is innovative, I don’t care about that, it’s just an incredible and powerful piece of music. For me, anyway.
3.18.2008 | By Andrew Aversionline
This may be the key phrase here, “Maybe it’s partly due to the mood/mental state I’ve been in as of late”. DIJ was an overly broad comparison since there are like 40 albums of that stuff, but honestly I can’t get past the fact that to my ears this is just like an upmarket/down tempo “Unconditional Armistice” or like-era Doug P. outing. Also it came off as a little self indulgent, but that’s most solo projects.
/redneck who hates everything
3.18.2008 | By Johnny
Time to redefine eloquent.
3.18.2008 | By marcus garvey
reminds me of leonard cohen, sparse but potent. seems like this brief excerpt would not do justice to the whole. guess ill be investigating further.
3.18.2008 | By Anonymous
Also, you’ve got some heavy Leviathan / USBM worship happening. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…but it’s just not as original as I hoped for…
I think that it’s worth mentioning the Supermachiner, Rise of the Great Machine LP…which I think is a forgotten gem. A Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou project that is just amazing. In my opinion blows doors off of this new solo stuff.
3.18.2008 | By Chris
thanks for the reminder, chris #2. that puppy contained some truly powerful shit (that “psychotic”-woman-screaming song comes to mind). need to bust it out ASAP.
didn’t even know jacob had some new stuff on the slate, but seems unfair to say anything based on this all too brief excerpt. will be on the lookout, though.
3.19.2008 | By chris
brief or not, this shit has been in the works for years now, i remember when this was supposed to be a solo project called Blood of Thine Enemies, after it was supposed to be a side project (so theres no excuse for it being underdeveloped), etc… this doesnt do anything for me. I thought supermachiner was a good step in a direction, and i had hoped time and experience would have made it less indulgent… this just sounds lame though. no where near DIJ or Leornard cohen (the dude who said that needs to take bannons cock out of his mouth and learn about music)
4.25.2008 | By jon d