Using voice, violins, and percussion, the NYC-based Lulu Black and partner Michael Kadnar (The Number Twelve Looks Like You) conjure darkly beautiful, colossally heavy dirges in the vein of Chelsea Wolfe, Zola Jesus, NIN, or Swans. "I love gritty textures paired with gorgeous harmonies," states Black.
This Is Oblivion was recorded and mixed in 2021 by Seth Manchester (Lingua Ignota, The Body) and mastered by Brian Lucey (Depeche Mode, David Lynch).
Stream and buy the album, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-oblivion
"In addition to owning Silent Pendulum Records, Michael Kadnar’s name can be seen throughout the experimental metal label’s discography, collaborating with signed artists including The Number Twelve Looks Like You and So Hideous. His latest project sees him teaming up with his romantic partner Lulu Black as the dirgey metal duo This Is Oblivion... an interesting blend of the spacious, hard-hitting doom metal of Body Void and the industrial noise of HIDE, not to mention the gothy theatricality of an artist like Chelsea Wolfe."
–Flood
"As if you took the majestic ambient abstractions that close My Dying Bride’s 'The Cry of Mankind' and draped them over a doom and drone metal skeleton, Lulu Black and Michael Kadnar create music that is simultaneously haunting and unbearably beautiful."
–PopMatters
"This Is Oblivion is a stunning portrait of artists elevating various styles—gothic rock, doom, industrial, post-rock, and prog. It’s an album that feels free and loose yet beautifully interconnected."
–New Noise
"What’s most accomplished about This Is Oblivion is the duo’s ability to conjure an atmosphere so ghostly and tantalizing with so few elements. Each track builds its soundscape upon a single instrumental melodic line utilizing violin, cello, piano, or industrial electronic swells, and backed by doomy percussion. Tracks like 'The Truth,' 'Undeserving,' and 'A Reckoning' are built upon a menace and malice not unlike 'The Call of the Wretched Sea'-era Ahab meets Swans‘ 'The Seer,' while the pitch-black industrial effects of the latter recall the scathing industrial leanings of Corrections House‘s 'Last City Zero.'"
–Angry Metal Guy
“They effortlessly blend doom metal with post-industrial and electronic influences in this twisted folk-styled narrative, reminiscent of Lingua Ignota or Chelsea Wolfe...”
–Everything Is Noise
“The duo of Michael Kadnar and Lulu Black have on their hands a debut release that winds effortlessly through doomy dirges, dark folk, industrial tinges, and whip smart lyrics with extremely engrossing and catchy song craft. No doubt comparisons have, and will, be made to Chelsea Wolfe but that’s only a small piece of the pie.”
–Nine Circles
"An anti-pop form of industrial... Driven by Lulu Black’s disaffected and monotone vocals atop Michael Kadnar’s atmospheric arrangments of acoustic and electronic percussion."
–ReGen
"New York City-based dark folk metal... Inspiring."
–Idioteq
–Everything Is Noise
“The duo of Michael Kadnar and Lulu Black have on their hands a debut release that winds effortlessly through doomy dirges, dark folk, industrial tinges, and whip smart lyrics with extremely engrossing and catchy song craft. No doubt comparisons have, and will, be made to Chelsea Wolfe but that’s only a small piece of the pie.”
–Nine Circles
"An anti-pop form of industrial... Driven by Lulu Black’s disaffected and monotone vocals atop Michael Kadnar’s atmospheric arrangments of acoustic and electronic percussion."
–ReGen
"New York City-based dark folk metal... Inspiring."
–Idioteq
Photo by Sarah Adler
No comments:
Post a Comment