Review for "Dwell In Darkness"

Review by: JEFF MILLS

BANDS WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/gorlockthewarlock

 

Track #1: "Suicide's Grace (Introduction)"

~"Suicide's Grace" So fitting for the opening track. The brimstone chasm opens and unleashes a haunting introduction to punishment. The Moore brothers excel with a haunting grace and offer a look into a depressive and shadow clad void of the extreme metal scene. The choice to make this number an instrumental was a good one. Spoken louder than words ever could, the mood is slowly set to a bleak and barren scope.

 

Track #2: "Miasmatic Lesions"

~"Miasmatic Lesions"  This track features Zodiac formally of Ibex Throne and current vocalist of Iconoclast Contra who had double duties of lyrics and vox. This track is a mixed bag of thrash ridden guitar bleeding throat black metal vocals! All among the mellow and unnerving backdrop of Gorlock's infamous wall of ambient guitar and keys provided by Eric Moore. The paring of the future of horror metal and underground black metal legends is a welcomed treat that will have you replaying this track over and over.

 

Track #3: "Dwell in Darkness"

~"Dwell in darkness" This song shocks the system with a "hello nice to meet you" attitude by being misleadingly quiet... then with no warning it screams "give me your face"!!! With guitars given a tar bath it chugs along until you think your teeth may shatter. The technical prowess beginning at 0:22 with a swirling lead would impress Trey Azagthoth himself (Morbid Angel)! The vocalist displays his knack for going from inhuman growls to precise harmony at 1:47 matching the guitars eerie drone. All in all the rhythmic attack blends with the swarming guitars like a tornado of saw blades and depth charges. The breakdown at 3:42 lumbers through the brain like a starved zombie looking for its next meal and leads to the ending which closes the song well with another change of pace. This song is much like riding a roller coaster to hell... once you cross the scary parts and think the mayhem is done... it slaps you in the face again like a sledgehammer.

 

Track #4: "Bring Me Death"

~"Bring Me Death" Vocals belted out from what seems to be a truly tortured soul. The guitars delivered like a buzz saw to the neck. It can be compared to laying your head inches away from a running buzz saw just enough to scare the shit out of you, yet rather enjoyable. The Moore brothers churn out sludge thick riffs and precise drumming as if it's second nature. While filling all the breakdowns with samples that could maybe just drive you mad. What grabs my attention is the unconventional drum beat... most acts involved with this style of music always fall back on the tried and true blast beat or just your everyday double bass ridden patterns. Its refreshing as a bloodbath to hear something unique. With so many elements its impossible to label Gorlock in a genre and that's something we should all strive for. Death, black, industrial, thrash, progressive... the list grows as one listens. "Bring Me Death" reveals that there is more here than just "meat and potato's" metal.

 

Track #5: "Static Reapings"

~"Static Reapings" Showing off the pure brilliance of the recording in this song the swirls of samples linked together with a guitar intro that is for sure to summon goosebumps in places you didn't think you had. The title of the song suits it very well. If the reaper collected sounds for the grave this is what it would sound like. The vocals blending in exactly without overpowering nothing is lost in this recording. At 1:55 comes a part that gives you that unexplained feeling... power, and just pure fucking evil. Then a gateway into psychosis is torn from the hinges with a flood of melodic conjuring. Adore gore for this because it is static reapings from the most vast of fields!!!

 

Track #6: "Velvet Atmosphere"

~"Velvet Atmosphere" Manifesting images of a monk gone insane and constructing a murderous death cult. With ambiance that just gives you that uneasy feeling that someone may possibly be lurking in the shadows. This song got many plays from me.... and there will many more to come. This concretes my theory that Gorlock can conjure up its influence of extreme music along with a soundtrack from what seems like the next best horror flick and not make it sound overdone or stale. Gorlock breathes new life into extreme music, then sticks a plastic bag over its head and takes it back... you can quote me on that its so true!!!

 

Track #7: "I Am Nothing For You"

~"I Am Nothing For You" This number can be summed up quiet easy... DEVASTATING! Soaked in a bottomless pit of chaotic distortion with rampant blast beats and intricate triplet patterns in between. Like a prehistoric mammoth gone rabid this song lumbers and topples everything it touches. My favorite so far.

 

Track #8: "Its Skeleton Along the Living Worms"

~"Its Skeleton Along the Living Worms" It sounds like Zyklon, Ulver, and Morbid Angel procreated with Satan's daughter and this is what she birthed. A sonic rape of the senses... you cant help but be overtaken by the power this song will impose. If this is any indication of what Gorlock is like then I suggest everyone raise their horns or get the hell outta the way cause Gorlock is coming to crush.

 

Track #9: <b>"In the Arms of Your Grave"

~"In the Arms of Your Grave" Brings forth visions of a stalking phantom sworn for revenge. The drone of the guitar mixes so well with the machine gun drumming. Vocals drip with a haunting vibe akin to Emperor or maybe even Ulver. Fantastic job!

 

Track #10: "Take Me Away In Your Broken Wings"

~"Take Me Away in Your Broken Wings" Is my favorite so far!!!! I have to say it!!! I love all your songs but this one chills beyond the bone!!! Haunting and entrancing.

 

Track #11: "Blood God"

~"Blood God" The Delivery of Gorlock is somewhat like riding a roller coaster with loose wheels. You begin slowly but teetering on the brink of madness then all hell breaks loose. Every note swirling around the mind like a stagnant pool of malicious intent. The guitar that follows with the unnerving keys in the background is what you would hear if Satan's child had a music box and opened it for all to hear. It proves that even with dark themes and even darker music that the music can be "catchy" at 00:58 I dare anyone to try and not hum along... its impossible. Then at 1:36 a heavier guitar enters the fray and beckons the listener more. The song then fades to a midway in between one of the most tortured endings I have heard in a long time. By this time the whole band has swelled into psychotic hierarchy then abruptly ending with one last echo into oblivion.

 

Track #12: "The Scar"

~"The Scar" This blew me away, the whole track is disturbing and I LOVE it!!! With the different collaborations it added a new depth to the song. The guitar was a whirlwind of sludge and the track has a groove as well, Ever since I heard Buer on the Gorlock tracks I have had mass amounts of respect and admiration for his wicked gift. At 1:58 I don't know which guy it was but it sounded like pure torture and agony, this song was a match made in the netherworld. To say I am impressed is the largest understatement I have ever made.

 

Track #13: "These Rooms Which Leave Me"

~"These Rooms Which Leave Me" Drenched in epic keys and even more epic vocals this is by far my favorite of what I have heard. With compositions so tight and such a powerful vibe throughout the whole song I can see this being one of the songs that carry the release to the throne and beyond. This song burns itself into the memory by force if need be... As a whole I can without any trouble, envision a total path of carnage with this music. Not only does it effect your mind as music but it also paints a picture while hearing it... with so many ways to access the listeners mind there is no doubt that Gorlock is and will further become an important band. As the behemoth continues to grow so will the audio onslaught behind it. For that matter I can see that Gorlock is primed to burn Utah on the map and soon the world will raise those familiar horns to the cursed sky as a salute to the future gods of audio murder!!!

 

Track #14: "Remembrance"

~"Remembrance" Also a fitting title I imagine that souls lost on the "other side" listen to this often. The song builds upon itself setting the listener up for something akin to placing you ear on a jackhammer hopped up on a kilo of Utah finest cocaine at 2:20. Then it ends with one final scream of anguish from the vocalist signaling the end of devastation.

 

Track #15: "There is No Memory to Speak of Me"

~"There is No Memory to Speak of Me" This track forthright throws you into a funeral dirge atmosphere full of fog and depression... with almost a new age of renaissance fair to sink within. There is a period of time that you think it's safe to move along... well I bid you to just wait... the real torture void comes later! With ambiance dripping from its very core. Gorlock have made it their trademark to paint a vivid picture of limpid stares into another realm... this I promise you could be featured in any upcoming horror/suspense film. It leaves you wondering where it is going next.

 

Hidden Track: "Mother Fucking Whiskey Hails"

~"Mother Fucking Whiskey Hails" I call this the anthem track. Showing the boys from Utah know how to party down as well as summon all our blackest nightmares. With break neck speed and raspy black metal vocals. One cant help but be impressed with the mix of styles Gorlock brings to the table. So the next time you break the seal on a fine bottle of Jack do yourself the favor of blasting 'Dwell In Darkness' and prepare to be leveled.