Upheaval – “Demo”
Upheaval- a violent or sudden change or disruption to something. An upward displacement of part of the Earth’s crust.
Upheaval’s music is not really violent, moving more at a slow, ponderous pace. Still, their name is a cool one and this is a pretty cool band.
They use the terms metal/ sludge/ doom to describe themselves and you don’t need anything more. And that’s very easy for me, you see, no need to look up terms like “Japanese Wombat” style or what not.
I would say this band is indebted to Black Sabbath but what a great metal band to owe some of your style to.
But they are not a throwback band, they are of today. Their music is simpler, more brutal, heavy, minimal and concise and powerful in its straightforward intensity.
Let’s listen to their four song EP.
“Decay” starts off like the gates of hell being slowly drawn open and back and then things move along in a leisurely way or more so in a morbid, heavily oppressive way with a dense, dark feel. Once the distant screaming vocals come in the tempo shifts, just a tad, as the guitar fuzzes along and the drums are slow but powerful, deep in the groove. And lo and behold! The first lyrics mention a gate. “The gates have opened/ The downfall begins.” This song flows like blood slowly dripping out of a gaping wound. This is all minor key morose meanderings with the drums delaying the beat in a doom/sludge dance of decay. “I can feel it now/ The descent/ It rips through me now/ The decay.” This song doesn’t rip through me, more it collides against one, like a huge iceberg with its intensity, powerfulness and passion. And I call it -great!
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/01 Decay.mp3|titles=Decay]“Haunt” starts in a fog of distorted guitars and accenting drums pounding against the sides of the sound-scape, frantic for escape. The vocals lead an assault against the proceeding with icy, distant, echo-y screams of passionate but dismal catastrophe. “See the waves come crashing in/ Abandonment, fear, crippling solitude.” Towards the end a doom-y chord change is answered by rolling drums signaling the end of another great tune.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/02 Haunt.mp3|titles=Haunt]“Rise” is the most upbeat song on this EP with its almost funky beat and slashing guitar lick. “Kneel down, the time is now/ Sacrifice/ Consume/ Become invincible/ claim this world” In the chorus the beat changes into a slower, almost Latin beat with lower growl-y vocals entering to chirp along. “Formless/ God unborn,” goes the catchy top 40 chorus. This is a powerful, headbanging tune just dropped down to a doom-y pace to increase intensity and succeeds sensationally.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/04 Rise.mp3|titles=Rise]A lone guitar starts off “Giant” with a clipped chord change until the drums come in, not to pick it up a notch, but to lay it back into a dark, ominous death march. Eventually, the screaming black metal vocals arrive. “Unearthing an ancient spell/ Of pagan rituals/ Buried deep within the tomb/ Forsaken ruins.” The chorus is met with the lower, growling vocals making the song more murky and menacing than before. No guitar solos, no tempo changes- just one powerful, distorted, fuzzy onslaught that is nevertheless true, brutal, pure and great. “Catastrophe, monumental extinction.” The song ends but its beauty and power is felt still after the last chord.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/03 Giant.mp3|titles=Giant]This EP is all minor key, dissonant, gloom and doom and moves along in a plodding but never un-urgent pace. That would seem to suggest that this is a depressing or dismal record to hear. A dark walk upon a rain splattered sidewalk on a rainy day.
Au contraire, my freaky French fellows finding interesting and obscure ways to digest croissants. This is music that exudes an energy of intense power and beauty, that is more cathartic and cleansing than depressing; and aggressive and headbanging, though at a slower pace.
This is the sadness that accepts the reality of life. This is the sadness that lets you escape the Disney-world of religion and false ideals and that “good always wins out” played to you as a child by your parents, society and clergy.
That’s pretty sad but this is the hope and the break through the bleak shadows. When you hear that song that is the only thing real in your day, you know that’s all you need, that makes it all alright and okay.
The sound, the words that lead you astray off the beaten track but really leads you in the right direction- to the center of your heart.
Facing life. Wild, with fire in your eyes.
(Slimedog)
