NIGHT HAG – Great Dismal Darkness

The best sounds in the world definitely come from inside caves!

NIGHT HAG take us down into the deepest recesses of a dark cave with Great Dismal Darkness. We're dealing with a pretty primitive recording here, and it's almost impossible not to feel like you're drowning beneath every guitar riff throughout the album. The deranged screams that rise toward the end of “Effluvia Tendrils” seem to suck out the last scraps of air you've been holding in your lungs throughout the record. Here, drowning isn't just a metaphor; it's a direct result of the atmosphere the band has managed to create.

The doom side of the album is very much to the fore. However, NIGHT HAG blend it so well with the heavy, primitive tones of death metal that what emerges isn't simply slow-moving music, but a mass of sound that practically drags the listener across the floor. The guitar tones brought early CIANIDE or COFFINS to mind. This rotten, filthy and uncompromising approach to sound also makes the band's reverence for the roots abundantly clear. The character these tones bring to the album's production deserves particular appreciation, too. Not everything needs to sound crystal clear, and there's no need to polish the guitars until they shine. Sometimes, the right amount of decay can be an album's greatest asset.

Of course, I do think the album's running time, which comes close to fifty minutes, is a little excessive. Music this dense, heavy and suffocating needs to give the listener some room to breathe if it's going to maintain its impact. On the other hand, when I imagine putting NIGHT HAG on as an opening act at a festival, the first thing that comes to mind is this: everyone dies! Joking aside, it's not hard to imagine the chaos these dudes would unleash onstage when they sound this crushing on record. I'm absolutely certain we'll be facing a bunch of guys who want to eat your brain alive when they play live!

It genuinely makes me happy to see young bands from this new generation of second-wave acts still making music with this kind of attitude. In an environment where everything is becoming more modern, sounds are getting polished and music sometimes loses its soul, it's incredibly valuable to have bands like NIGHT HAG keeping this primitive, filthy and suffocating approach alive. Rather than a copy made for the sake of nostalgia, I hear a desire to keep the spirit of old-school metal alive in their own darkness.

My definite favorites on the album are “The Terrible Old Woman” and “Excoriate”. The different approaches to drumming and, in particular, the various vocal techniques used throughout the album shift the atmosphere from track to track, giving the listener some enjoyable moments. This variety also feeds into the overall sense of unease.

NIGHT HAG aren't here to make us comfortable with Great Dismal Darkness; they're here to drag us straight into the depths. That's all I have to say: when these dudes hit the stage, there's absolutely going to be chaos!

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