You’ve heard the saying “screaming into the void” before, and that can have any number of connotations from anger to frustration to helplessness. Nonetheless, it’s not something you can actually do, as great an idea as that may be, so we often have to find alternatives to that action.
Here’s the thing though: Ethan McCarthy doesn’t believe that void concept is undoable, and he tries to prove that on his project Many Blessings and new record “Emanation Body,” his second. If you’re familiar with McCarthy’s work in Primitive Man and Vermin Womb, you should leave expectations behind you, because this is an altogether different idea. Here, McCarthy creates terrifying soundscapes that sound like the emanation of the aforementioned void, a place in which he can scream through his frustrations and anxieties, though the pieces here contain his compositions rather than his voice. These tracks also easily could spark anxious moments if these sheets of relentless sound get to you. If you relate to them, it can be perfect catharsis as you pour yourself into the pit of hell and let the pain inside of you mix right into that and add other colors.
“Invocation” starts with beats striking and noise lurking in shadows as eerie movements spread over everything. Ringing brings strangeness and panic into play while a bad storm is brewing outside your window. Noise keeps building, challenging your mental frame as hell rushes over, and the pressure swells. Beats tap, the playing swirls in hell, and everything swelters and fades out. “Immersion” has weird, warped voices in a halo as a ghostly cloud front hovers with the spirits stuck in hell. Howls and moans sit behind the front as the noises eat away at flesh, while the volume rises to dangerous volumes before subsiding. Gloom floods while what sounds like a failing engine calls as the final moments pulsate before fading out.
“Pandæmonium” is immersed in mind-altering oddness, disorienting before sheets of chaos arrive, increasing the pressure that’s mounting. Sounds scar as hypnosis spreads its wings, and the body of the track hurtles through the atmosphere. Mechanical yells combine with tornadic pressure while anxiety amplifies, and the psychosis explodes between your ears. “Ruina” sends barometric pulses and feels like it’s rolling through the clouds before it meets up with an industrial haze. The playing continues to soar, making for some of the record’s more calming stretches. “Harm Signal” is the closer and immediately steps into shockwaves that wail and crawl before squeaks poke, and things hit a boil. The piece flutters nervously, chewing away at the flesh, leaving small, oozing marks while large metal sheets appear to be scraping against each other. The haze picks up again, noises burst and release chemicals, and the final moments drill at the senses before dropping out.
We already knew McCarthy was an absolute beast of a performer, but with Many Blessings, we hear a different side that’s violent in an entirely different way. “Emanation Body” creates that swirling vortex in which you want to dump all of your negative energy and watch it disappear into terrible mystery. This is a creation that can either stage your psychological reformation or devour you from inside out.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/manyblessingstoall/
To buy the album, go here: https://translationloss.com/products/emanation-body
For more on the label, go here: https://translationloss.com/
Meat Mead Metal 