Having listened to a lot of albums in the last few years, I've started to realize that one good test of whether an album is good or not is how well it fits into a particular genre. Bad albums usually fit snugly into their genres. A bad punk album sounds like an echo of other punk albums that you have liked better. Good albums, by contrast, often resist being assigned a genre at all. They combine musical tropes in surprising and delightful ways.
The first glimmer I had that The Bleakness of Our Constant might be a good album was that I couldn't figure out out what genre it belonged to. I listened to this album on the drive down to LA from San Francisco, and I spent about half an hour puzzling over what this thing was. Viewed from a certain angle, it's definitely metal. Many of the vocals are doom vocals. But the album's climactic moments often don't sound like metal at all. The breathtaking end of "Weight of the Mind's Periapt," for example, has beautiful choral harmonies. There is no growly male voice to remind us that this is a metal album. And what do we make of the guitar finger-picking at the beginning of "Selene"? The Bleakness of Our Constant moves between soaring metal intensity and the tranquility of a post-rock album.
It's also a bit of a bummer. The Bandcamp page warns: "This record was created during a difficult time. To those who have experienced trying times, hardship, loss, or feel the struggle in this wandering existence, this record is for you." Sometimes, the vocalist just seems to be growling, and the lyrics can't be understood. But then he begins to sing in his natural voice, and the lyrics ring out:
"Why now do I exist to wonder? \ You see the worst I have to offer \ Here in your eyes I fail and falter..."
Normally, I would be exasperated and bored by an album that doesn't offer a glimmer of hope, but The Bleakness of our Constant pulls it off because it is so damn beautiful. It sounds like a landscape in the Mountain West in midwinter. It isn't defiant, but it is contemplative. It won't grab your attention, but it also won't lose it.
Highly recommended.
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