Subterranean Disposition
S/T
Hypnotic Dirge Productions 2012
Australia,
the land of majestic landscapes and brutal heat has a disproportionally
large amount of doom, and doom death bands filling the earth with their
songs of misery and desolation. Subterranean Disposition count
themselves among that legion. With Between Apes And Angels the
album starts slowly with samples and sparse instrumentation, an
animalistic isolation fills the air. Stony riffs rise against the
acoustic guitar and the sparseness reminds me a little of Tiamat's
Wildhoney. That is until sorrowful melodies flow in effortlessly
and deathly vocals add a layer of grim hopelessness to the song.
There are references to early My Dying Bride and Anathema that
drift in as the song progresses. Seven Sisters Of Sleep
broods and is brimming with introspective desolation. The guitars
echo with crushing despair as they lethargically weave between massive
lumbering riffs and melancholic melodies. The song collapses into
a period of cold stillness painted by a minimalist beat and a barren
guitar, but an imposing wall of near-industrial hammering drums and
distorted vocals confronts your expectations. Doomy riffs and a
myriad of vocal approaches are on display as The Most Subtle Of Storms
grows, and breathes. A power metal melody surprisingly sprouts
from the fabric of the song. At the 6:48 mark a solitary
saxophone and a tapping woodblock imbue the song with a nocturnal
nostalgia which is subsumed by proggy progressions. Wailing My
Keen closes out the album and is my favorite track. It has a
jazzy subtext felt from its opening moments but they soon dissipate.
Clear guitar with an airy, yet somber aura fills my speakers as
well as my heart. Spacey guitar oddities creep in from the
darkness before an avalanche of crushing riffs collapses in on me.
The clean vocals are strained, yet remain as emotionless as the
deathly vocals. The normal singing and female vocals inject
emotion, but pale in comparison to the emotional depth of the guitars.
Subterranean Disposition's debut album is an adventurous odyssey
through varying degrees of doom death. They take more chances
than most of their peers, a move that receives high marks from me.