Dead River Runs Dry – Winter 2012 (demo)
I love Australia, and probably won’t ever ‘go to there’. That paradox should clue you in to the fact that I dearly love that country’s extreme music output with greats like Destroyer 666, Mournful Congregation, Denouncement Pyre, etc, etc, littering the Land Down Under. The up-and-comers don’t disappoint either, however, as evidenced by Black Metal outfit Dead River Runs Dry’s latest demo, one that arrives soaked with the same high-quality level of black/death noise of their fellow Aussies. Sargeist-like sounds curl in and around the very-human and standout drumwork of Dan Nahum, setting the listener up for the very brief but welcome bits of Doom and Thrash that rise and fall along the journey. Interplay of guitars now-dissonant, now-melodic proliferate in the mix, creating expressions foreboding and desolate in the brain, especially on ‘Dying Gleam on the Sun Eternal’, a closer that would have held my attention even if it were ten minutes longer. And though the voice of the perhaps ironically-named Brad Gentle, along with the low-mixed but audible bass rumble of Krist Sadler, remain the mortar in Dead River Runs Dry’s wall of sound, the potency therein is undeniable: Gentle’s throat sidles easily between an Ihsahn / Attila range that complements the muted schizophrenia of the songwriting quite well. Acquire this thirteen minute offering to the gods from below the equator, and you will gaze into the twisting innards of this revered land’s next generation of hell-bringers with admiration. -Jim
Self-Released
http://deadriverrunsdry.bandcamp.com/
Worm Gear 