DeaD!!! — The Graven Realm
Behind DeaD!!! was James Patrick - who between 2016/ 2015 ran the HNW/ PE label DeathSexElectrionics, which put out a more than a few worthy releases. He was also behind the HNW/ Harsh noise project Cherry Blossom At Night- who put out around ten or so releases. DeaD!!! Was, as far as I’m aware of his last project did before he disappeared from the scene.
The release comes in a bulky/ oversized double jewel case packaging- this features suitable dark & gloom artwork of graveyards. The release is finished off with a single monochrome inlay card, which just takes in the track listing, and a hand number. The set came in an edition of 12 copies- it’s no longer for sale on AOW site, but maybe if you contract the label they may still be able to hook you up.
Each disc here features two lengthy & terminally bleak examples of wall-matter. First up on disc one we have "In Embrace We Depart"- this nearing thirty-three-minute track begins with a slowly fading in a mixture of slurred choppy mids and stark wind like rushes. At around the minute mark a slowly feasting & rolling bass element kicks in, and this is topped with a thinner rattling-to-skating static tone- together these creating a very suffocating & ultra grim wall, which seems to coat you in it’s sludgy & tarry mass. The textures do have some movement in them, and at times there is almost a loose jam-like feel to the shifting layers- I found the track most fulfilling when it focuses down into a set & focused path- as the more lose/ jamming moments do feel a little muddled at times.
The second track on disc one is “My Silver Wound, My Eternal Loss”- this seventeen & a half minute wall homes in on a slightly bass altering drone, which is topped with rattling, feasting & crackling static. This wall seemed a little more impactful than the first- once again you got some shift in the textures, and mainly this occurs in the bass bound element, and these certainly seemed more rewarding than the first track, and towards the second half this nicely effective drifting/ blurring occurs- all in all, it nicely creates a feeling of crushing grimness.
Moving onto the second disc, and this features two twenty-one minute tracks- first of these is “Darkness Of Life Is Living Dead”- this sees a truly hopless muffling blend of rolling drone starkness, chopping & blunt engine like juddering, and hazed feasting crackle. Safe for the occasional /slightly shifting buffer & rattling in the mass- this track felt more fixed in its structure, so as a result, I found this wall more effective.
The final track is title track- this once again about a blend of truly crushing & musty textures- we have a loose & windswept bass drone- this is surrounded by crisper scoring, feasting & rattling static play. Once again this has a fairly loose feel to its ‘walls’ structure, and this time around it’s fairly effective in its most subtle deviations...
In summing up The Graven Realm- it’s a passable enough double disc album- offering up four very grim, though rather interchange & similar sounding walls. I guess it’s down to how much you enjoy the bleaker end of the wall noise genre, to how much you’ll like this. It’s certainly not the best work I’ve heard from either of Mr Partick's projects, just passable.