EP Review: Negative Bliss – “Everything Hurts and I’m Dying” (Gothic Death/Doom)

Written by Kirk

At the risk of outing myself as “the old guy” on the Noob Heavy staff, does anyone else remember that scene in Spaceballs where Mel Brooks cracks open a can or “Perri-Air” and takes a big whiff because President Skroob had wasted all of the natural resources of the planet Spaceball that even air had to be imported? (Editor’s note: just because it came out before I was born doesn’t mean I don’t remember it, Kirk.) In spite of the fact that that film was released in 1987 and was (nay, still is) one of the greatest comedic films ever made, who could have possibly imagined such a ridiculous, farcical dystopia could feel so relevant a mere 37 years later? Was Brooks intending to write such a scathing critique of unchecked capitalism and bumbling political buffoonery, or was it merely a convenient bit used to sell audiences how utterly and completely inept his antagonists really were?

To be honest, I really couldn’t say.  I review music, not movies, but I’ve found that scene tends to make the rounds in my subconscious when I start thinking about the dystopia we currently live in: the United States of America. Except our dystopia isn’t funny; the political buffoonery loses its comedic edge when it leads to the loss of basic human rights that are supposed to be the groundwork of this collection of “free” states we loosely call a country. That’s what makes the title of Negative Bliss’s debut EP, Everything Hurts and I’m Dying, so appropriate. Is it a statement on the intrinsic cost of living in America? A comment on the existential toll of growing older? Or is there another message hidden deep within the title, one that can only be unlocked by listening to and embracing the songs within?

Between you and me, I find myself uttering “everything hurts and I’m dying” more and more these days, but that’s likely because I just recently turned 44 and…well, it’s kinda true. Back, knees, shoulders, you name it, it probably hurts, but I don’t think the band named their EP because of joint pain. No, there’s definitely a deeper message at work here. So let’s take a dive into these songs. It starts off with “The Lighthouse”, a tale of love and loss told through the lens of gothic death/doom with a sprinkling of emotive hardcore for good measure. It ebbs. It flows. It builds. It swells. And when it’s done, it will crush you down to your very core.

Grass found life within the earth where she once stood her ground
The only life now resting here, her body was not found
Another song for Abigail, whilst her love at sea
And thusly hoped to join him there, wherever he may be.

“Sunless Forever” trades out the gothic doom metal for a sludgier, more hardcore-forward approach while simultaneously turning up the death metal chug. Then, literally a minute into the song, the tempo shifts into quasi-post/prog metal for about 45 seconds before morphing back into hardcore death/sludge. Though initially jarring, the tempo shifts (we get another one around the 4:15 mark) give the song room to stretch out of its preordained genre confines and allow Negative Bliss to establish a more complex lexicon of sounds from which to mine. Rounding out the EP are remixed and remastered versions of their first two singles, “The Good Life” and “Sun Stain”. Now, you may be wondering how different these songs could sound, having been released this same year, but such is the power of studio engineering.  Both songs sound fresh and new, full of vitality and ready to take on the world.

THE BOTTOM LINE

People often misconstrue heavy metal as “angry music” because they’re cowards and scared of emotion. Anyone who is even a casual heavy metal enjoyer is abundantly aware of its tendency to allow a freedom of expression for the more raw and less “polite” feelings that many of us bottle up.  No one likes to talk about grief and loss, and so music that focuses on the things we like talking about the least is incredibly cathartic. That’s what Negative Bliss has focused on here with Everything Hurts and I’m Dying, talking openly about the facets of life that most of us choose to keep bottled up and stuffed down. As the tagline on their Bandcamp page states, these are songs of coping.  Coping with grief and sadness. Coping with that over which we have no control. Much of our daily information intake is stories of death and destruction, and we feel powerless to do anything about it. But why wallow in despair when you can find peace within the void? A mind at peace can overcome all obstacles.