Tuesday, March 22, 2011

MURKRAT - Drudging the Mire CD review


MURKRAT - Drudging the Mire CD
Aesthetic Death
Genre: Funeral Doom/Gothic
Rating: 2/5

If you were a fan of MURKRAT's debut release from 2008 then you'll probably won't be too surprised by Drudging the Mire. There have been some changes for this New South Wales, Australia act since they came up on everyone's radar in 2010. First off Mandy Andreson is now the sole member of the band, ditching Becky Nine-Iron for a session drummer. Secondly if you thought the debut was miserable in a depressive avant garde way than get ready for some Gothic doom and gloom. The perfect way to listen to this new one is with the lights out but you can burn a single candle. I cannot do that because I'm a drunk and might knock over the damm candle in a fit of depressive rage brought on by this music. The next thing will be that my house would burn down to the ground which is also a depressive thought and I might even be lost in the fire. That's right and then where would you get your fill of honest extreme music reviews with a helping of hipster bashing?

If there's one word I could use to describe Drudging the Mire it would be horrific. This is like the result of some pop singer in raccoon makeup, Tori Amos?, high on depressants and liquor. The opener, "Processional: Drudging The Mire" is just Mandy Andreson tinkering on the keys of her piano in an empty hall as if no one showed up for the recital. Now that's depressing, give me a drink and some pills if ya got em. Once "I, Rodent" starts then it's goth torture time with just organ and drums. Musically it's not much different then "Believers" from the debut. It drags on until the mid-point which is when Mandy adds more piano tinkering and her witch howls. "I, Rodent" is probably one of the better moments on here. Coming in at a few seconds over seventy four minutes this dink drags more ass than an alligator, she's from Australia so I'll switch that to crocodile. In other words this release makes ISOLE sound like a speed metal band. The debut was slightly more lively.

As Drudging the Mire trudges onward things get more medieval and Gothic sounding to the point where it is like a funeral. Mandy is the lone mourner in a black veil with the haunting vocals sung over ambient drone. Songs like "Faceless" and "World" are completely boring unless you're into Goth which I am not. I was ready to scream "will something please happen" and it does on "Electric Womb". This is a fourteen minute kill joy about a world where machines control human births. "Propagating the brain-sack farm. For the survival of the race. To preserve the mass consciousness. Of the passive-mind creatures." Yeah that's pretty depressive if you ask me. "The Mighty Spires" introduces in some witchery tale with Mandy's vocal being perfect amidst a organ and piano drone. Once again a good track which reminds me of their debut. "Speak" takes on an apocryphal tone which draws heavily on the Gothic atmosphere of the keyboards. The final and shortest song on here, "Berceuse - Slow Immersion" is another piano recital number played in a windy yet empty hall.

If there are any guitars on here you cannot tell they're there. It mainly sounds like piano, organ, drums and vocals. This is like the final performance by some former pop singer/piano virtuoso whose gone off the deep end courtesy of pills and booze. The lyrics are the final confessions before the oral concoction takes its final conclusion. Is that a bad thing? Nah because that's what some people want in your Gothic funeral doom. This is for fans only for which I'm now questioning my own status. Don't let your roommates hear you playing this dink or you're likely to find yourself coming home one day to an intervention or worse, the big guys in white coats with a third guy holding the needle.

Label: http://www.aestheticdeath.com/


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/murkrat


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