Andrew DuncanWhen the Deadbolt Breaks
Drifting Towards the Edge of the Earth
EarOne Productions
★★★
As bands try to outdo each other in concept and delivery, you can expect two things to the Doom and Symphonic Metal genre: longer, more epic songs, and longer, more epic albums.
Connecticut Doom band When The Deadbolt Breaks will not disappoint on both ends. Their latest offering Drifting Towards the Edge of the Earth is beyond massive. The results are not just in the context of the genre, but in the accomplishment of the band.
Their most expansive release to date, Drifting Towards the Edge of the Earth starts out colossal (“The Woods are Full of Killers” racking up at 12 minutes) and never lets up.
That being said, Drifting Towards the Edge of the Earth is not an easy album to settle into like other Doom albums. Instant gratification is not what this album is about. I had to let the songs seep in. The band’s rules and guidelines keep everything close knit and intensive. It’s an album primarily filled with subtle feedback, tinged on classic death metal gutteral groans.
When the Deadbolt Breaks – Sleeps in Burning Hills Video
And plan on an adventure. The album clocks in at almost two hours in length with two CDs of credentials. And with that, the band does an excellent job at holding the listener’s attention. “Sleeps in Burning Hills” provide us the perfect example that lies somewhere between early White Zombie and Type O Negative if these bands were brought up by nothing but Earache releases.
You get their jive now? Sure there is diversity. “Too Much Perfection is a Mistake” is lighter in tone and have a slightly higher glimmer of hope than a song like “Hide the Bodies From God.” In contrast, this song is diverse within it’s own element, starting with an almost punk-like fistful of noise and then crashing into subtarranean guitar chimes and humidly frigid tones.
Disc 2 features stages of the song “My Coffin is Loaded with Sand and Fire.” The band dives a little farther off the deep end. However, each song brings it’s own charm sometime in a manic way with others pulling you under with them.
These all are mere examples of something you should just experience for yourself. The two hours are painstakingly documented, but well worth the curiousity.