Today is election day in the US which means it’s time for doom, literally and metaphorically… which will eventually manifest literally. I’m still unsure if the music makes the mood or the mood makes the music, but either way, these are dark times – daylight savings just ended after all. We decided to follow suit and host a sundering, dark. and dramatic premiere for y’all courtesy of Michigan’s Pillar of Light.
The band’s new album, Caldera, comes out on December 6, the perfect time and season for this sort of ashen doom and sludge metal with an emotive heart. With Transcending Obscurity‘s help, the holiday depression comes early, but we got a little pre-game for y’all today in the form of their new single, “Leaving”. Let’s check it out!
It’s kind of impressive how eloquently this band moves from a classical doom metal lurch to a more funereal stance. It’s labored, the weight of it all resting on your shoulders and back like the mythological Atlas, and yet it’s so smooth and deliberate, it’s as natural as me typing this sentence. The album’s cover art – done by the inimitable, late, great Mariusz Lewandowski – is a wonderful visual representation for what you hear on “Leaving”. Imagine a shrouded, inflamed realm, absolutely barren and uninhabitable. The only escape from it is to pass through a portal to an unknown deathly realm. Will your fate be as doomed in this new world as it was your old one? This song feels like the cautious, tumultuous beginning of that journey. The band reveal as much in their own statement on the album: ‘Caldera took form over several years and embodies the collective sense of loss and instability of our times. Each song is its own journey through the depths of human emotion and follows a narrator desperate to find reason in madness, purpose in destruction, and wisdom in futility.‘
“Leaving” also plays with post- conventions when it comes to the emotional use of atmosphere and negative space, along with a blustery, impassioned finish with rolling drums and lung-collapsing vocals that beckon to be heard. The prevailing riff and melody throughout the song is downtrodden, yet strong, capturing the band’s almost contradictory sonic embodiment of light and dark. Guitar effects and tones are tastefully implemented and add flavor instead drowning you. With music like this, I’m sure we can expect Caldera to be a very spectrum-walking experience when it launches next month.
If you liked what you heard – and how could you not? – you’d do well to preorder the hell out of Caldera in a myriad of ways on Bandcamp. Follow Pillar of Light on the original platform for abject societal desolation: Facebook. A big, long, doomy secret handshake to all involved with making this happen!
