• 2023

    Album Review: Allfather – “A Violent Truth” (Sludge/Groove Metal)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Shores of Null – “The Loss of Beauty” (Blackened/Gothic Death/Doom)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Dawn Ray’d – “To Know the Light” (RABM)

  • 2023

    Album Review: TH Speedball – “I’m Destined for Greatness But My Brain is on Fire” (Hardcore)

  • 2023

    EP Review: Spectral Lore – “11 Days” (Black Metal)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Maze of Sothoth – “Extirpated Light” (Technical Death Metal)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Ephedra – “Valley of the Shepherd” (Instrumental Stoner Doom)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Úlfúð – “Of Existential Distortion” (Black/Death Metal)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Choir – “Songs for a Tarnished World” (Black/Doom Metal)

  • 2023

    Album Review: Marco Garau’s Magic Opera – “Battle of Ice” (Symphonic Power Metal)

Noob Heavy

Underground Metal & Hardcore.

Black lives matter
Trans rights are human rights
All cops are bastards
We have no leadership, only capitalism
 

  • About Us
  • Submission Policy
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Free Bandcamp Wiki 2022
  • Metal Redux
  • Commissioning Artist List
  • Lists
  • Food Desert Recordings
  • Join The Kvlt: Leftist Black Metal Column
HomeYear2023Album Review: They Grieve – “To Which I Bore Witness” (Doom/Drone)

Album Review: They Grieve – “To Which I Bore Witness” (Doom/Drone)

February 23, 2023 Barlovv

Written by Barlovv



They Grieve – To Which I Bore Witness
> Doom/drone
> Ontario, Canada
> Releasing February 24
> Silent Pendulum Records

Weariness finds its way
And carries the promise of anguish

There are times when I can look at an album cover and just know that it is going to be my shit. Call it just a gut instinct, or maybe just convincing myself that I was right to justify my instinct retroactively, but I’m pretty frequently right and this record from They Grieve is just one more example.

Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, this duo of sweet boys have really got 2023 off to a strong start for this guy with To Which I Bore Witness. An album that is so much my shit that I will quietly resent Silent Pendulum Records for scooping them up before I could (and also for being a demonstrably more successful and together label than me, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about). The press for the album refers to it as post-metal a few times, but this thing slams so hard into doom, drone, and ambient that I wonder why that distinction is being made. And here’s where I stop myself before I go into another tangent about why I am so irritated by genre tags.

The album opens with a fucking beast of a thing called “Wither”, which spends its seven minutes setting the tone for the rest of the record, starting with an almost angelic chant, leading seamlessly into the crunchy and doom-laden vocals that will carry through the rest. Members Gary Thibert and Deniz Güvenç are both credited with vocals, and so without knowing which one it is I have to tip my hat to whoever, as that brings this album to life immediately. “Wither” also sets the tone lyrically and thematically for the rest of the album. The entirety of the lyrics are:

“Failure knows no bounds and makes its home here within me

Endless is the night of its becoming
Nothing returns
Cower, collapse, wither”

And fuck me do you ever feel that in your bones, and you feel that carry through the remaining songs. This ability to say very little and have it vibrate through your entire being is not an easy thing to pull off, and brings to mind one of my favourites from last year, Terminal Burrow by Ammothea, but where that album felt like you were standing in a blizzard and screaming into the void, this one feels more like the void is screaming into you and you’re going to fucking feel it. You also carry this with you, through to the end of the album, the final words on the album being “Weakness alone holds me”.

There’s a lot to like about the band musically, and honestly the album stands up on its own. In their materials, They Grieve mention that, despite being a two-piece band, they run the same amount of gear as a four- or five-piece band, with each member pulling double and even triple duty across this album – so the talent and versatility is simply an undeniable thing. You can add to that the fact that the two have been friends for more than a decade, and that much time creates a lot of cohesion and chemistry, and you can absolutely feel that on display here. The music is so deliberate and tight that it makes sense that they’ve been friends so long.

Artwork by Pascale Arpin

If you needed any more reason to get on board with this record, and to be honest I can’t imagine why what I’ve said so far hasn’t sold you, why not add the fact that Fuck the Facts’ Topon Das from Apartment 2 Recording produced the fucking thing? The dude doesn’t miss, and this is just one more feather in his cap, as kind of a cherry on top of the whole thing.

THE BOTTOM LINE

While I’m not prepared to call To Which I Bore Witness the feel good record of the year, it sure packs a fucking wallop and jumps right into my heart as an exceptional piece of work. You’ll love it, especially if you’re a fan of doom or drone metal – but if either of those labels might deter you from checking this out, then actually its post-metal and you should fucking check it out. An absolute fucking stunner of a thing, which the added bonafides of having been produced at Apartment 2 by Topon Das, there’s a whole lot to get excited about in this album, and you don’t want to be late to the party.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...
Previous

EP Review: Iron Curtain – “Metal Gladiator” (Heavy Metal)

Next

Album Review: Majesties – “Vast Reaches Unclaimed” (Melodic Death Metal)

Noob Heavy Socials

  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Bandcamp

Spotify Playlists

Clickable links. They don’t appear red in the sidebar 🙁

Alternative Trans Pride

New Metal and Hardcore Albums 2022(MASSIVE)

Best Of 2022 Rap

Screamo/Emoviolence

Noob Heavy Stoner Doom

New Death & Grind

New Death Doom

New Hardcore

New Thrash Metal

New Technical Death Metal

New Doom & Post Metal

New Deathcore & Brutal Death

Melo Death 2021

Australian Metal

Emo Rap

 

Top Posts & Pages

  • Album Review: Shores of Null - "The Loss of Beauty" (Blackened/Gothic Death/Doom)
    Album Review: Shores of Null - "The Loss of Beauty" (Blackened/Gothic Death/Doom)
  • Album Review: Maze of Sothoth – “Extirpated Light” (Technical Death Metal)
    Album Review: Maze of Sothoth – “Extirpated Light” (Technical Death Metal)
  • Exhumed, Reviewed, Renewed: Jute Gyte's Mitrealität
    Exhumed, Reviewed, Renewed: Jute Gyte's Mitrealität
  • Album Review: Dawn Ray'd - "To Know the Light" (RABM)
    Album Review: Dawn Ray'd - "To Know the Light" (RABM)
  • Album Review: Allfather - "A Violent Truth" (Sludge/Groove Metal)
    Album Review: Allfather - "A Violent Truth" (Sludge/Groove Metal)
  • Album Review: Gorod - "The Orb" (Technical Death Metal)
    Album Review: Gorod - "The Orb" (Technical Death Metal)
  • EP Review: Spectral Lore - "11 Days" (Black Metal)
    EP Review: Spectral Lore - "11 Days" (Black Metal)
  • Join The Kvlt: Leftist Black Metal to Sink Your Teeth Into Vol 1
    Join The Kvlt: Leftist Black Metal to Sink Your Teeth Into Vol 1
  • Album Review: Úlfúð - "Of Existential Distortion" (Black/Death Metal)
    Album Review: Úlfúð - "Of Existential Distortion" (Black/Death Metal)
  • Album Review: Sonja – “Loud Arriver” (Heavy Metal)
    Album Review: Sonja – “Loud Arriver” (Heavy Metal)

Categories

  • 20 Buck Spin (2)
  • 2018 albums (25)
  • 2019 Albums (112)
  • 2020 Albums (133)
  • 2021 (207)
  • 2022 (172)
  • 2023 (37)
  • Antifascist black metal (25)
  • Art Feature (10)
  • Aussie metal (40)
  • Barlovv (50)
  • Black Metal (154)
  • Brilliant Emperor Records (7)
  • Brutal Death (18)
  • Carcassbomb's Reviews (212)
  • Century Media (12)
  • Coreycritique reviews (6)
  • Cybergrind (7)
  • Death metal (208)
  • Death/Doom (46)
  • Deathcore (33)
  • Doom metal (102)
  • Ellis Heasley (49)
  • Espi Kvlt reviews (24)
  • Everlasting Spew Records (10)
  • Exhumed, Reviewed, Renewed (1)
  • Experimental (41)
  • Folk Metal (21)
  • Food Desert Recordings (3)
  • Game reviews (2)
  • Gothic Metal (14)
  • Greg Schwan reviews (1)
  • grindcore (51)
  • Guest Writers (11)
  • HardAlbumReview (47)
  • Hardcore (67)
  • Heavy Metal (38)
  • Helena (1)
  • Industrial (6)
  • Interviews (54)
  • Iōhannēs (1)
  • John Angel Reviews (23)
  • Katha reviews (6)
  • Kep Reviews (120)
  • Kirk (4)
  • Lists (46)
  • Luke Oram (8)
  • Mathcore (20)
  • Melodic Death Metal (36)
  • Metal (256)
  • Metal Blade (12)
  • Metal Collectors (8)
  • Metal Redux (14)
  • Metalcore (26)
  • MicroDose (55)
  • Musician Spotlight (7)
  • Noise (29)
  • Not Metal (28)
  • Nuclear Blast (10)
  • Peaceville Records (1)
  • Please Core (6)
  • Post Black Metal (25)
  • Post hardcore (38)
  • Post Metal (55)
  • Power Metal (10)
  • Prog Metal (77)
  • Prog rock (14)
  • Prosthetic Records (4)
  • RABM/Leftist metal (26)
  • Rap (10)
  • Relapse Records (3)
  • Review (558)
  • Riding Easy Records (1)
  • Sentient Ruin Labs (2)
  • Shoegaze (11)
  • Silent Pendulum records (4)
  • Slam (8)
  • sludge (25)
  • Speed Metal (15)
  • Splits And giggles (3)
  • Steves reviews (21)
  • Stoner (35)
  • Swatty Reviews (6)
  • Symphonic Metal (16)
  • Tech Death (61)
  • The Artisan Era (6)
  • The Sign Records (1)
  • Thrash Metal (36)
  • Tor Johnson Records (3)
  • Transcending Obscurity (25)
  • Trepanation Recordings (8)
  • Tridroid Records (3)
  • Unique Leader Records (18)
  • Unspeaking Axe Records (4)
  • Valky reviews (29)
  • Video Premiere (4)
  • Westin (13)
  • Willowtip Records (15)
  • Within The Mind Records (1)
  • Xtreem Music (3)
  • Z list (7)
  • Zax Record Reviews (106)
Community
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Subscribe via Email

Not sure who does this but it happens.

Join 121 other subscribers
Categories

Copyright © 2023 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: