A few miles from my house on a heavily traveled road, there’s a billboard that claims the COVID vaccine is the dreaded mark of the beast (at least that’s what it is this month) and urges people to believe in god instead of science. Naturally, there is zero attribution as to who created the billboard, no web address, no company name. Just a huge sign spewing dangerous bullshit, unchecked and unfiltered.
Faith in and of itself is fine, but when it turns to fanaticism and starts to replace logic and evidence with a message that can’t be proved and is part of a very dangerous con, and it turns into something that should be eradicated. A.L.N., the sole creator behind atmospheric black doom project Mizmor had a long journey with the Christian faith before that turned into atheism, and his new EP “Wit’s End” is a frustrated lash into people who have left behind all sense for expecting god to protect and heal them. It’s fucking baffling that people think this way, and as we see continue to have death accelerate from a plague that’s being fueled further by humans behaving in this manner. It’s enough to wash your hands of them and care not for what ending they face. This EP contains one track with Mizmor’s traditional sound, one that’s a haunting ambient piece, inspired by A.L.N.’s very real, very understandable anger and disgust with people who are actively contributing to death and misinformation. It’s the sound of being at the end of your rope with no more energy to waste on these people.
The title track runs 14:58 and trickles in as dialog about people refusing to acknowledge evidence, facts, and science, instead waiting for their god to save them, something that should irritate everyone alive as we watch people die needlessly. “Ingrates of truth depend on its utility, you revel in its luxury, and you spit in its face and deny it like I do god. Your stupidity is blatant, your ignorance astounding. Sometimes I wonder if the truth is even worth knowing.” He later follows that with, “I have not words, just feelings, heavy as the earth, hanging around my neck.” It’s sobering this infuriating reality in which some of us must face, and you will feel that when the darkness drops, the shrieks explode, and everything sprawls with the desperation to get away from these fucking people. Doom drones and the playing knifes back as A.L.N. wails, “Annihilation is the law!” leaving you blistered as the playing gets deeper and richer but also more volatile. Shrieks well, all hopes fade, and everything melts into the earth with evaporation as the only thing remaining. “Pareidolia” is 14:05 and mostly is an ambient piece that feels like your body leaving this earth, immersed in angelic haze as your mind numbs you to the imminent reality. The track transcends and settles into mournful valleys, sounds swirling overhead, warbled voices crawling out of your dreams as your temperature drops. Alien transmissions stretch, staring you in the eyes from a plane you never imagined before that’s about to become your home.
Having faith in something celestial isn’t necessarily a destructive thing, but when it gets in the way of people’s health, mental well-being, and ability to live a sensible life, it turns into a demon. A.L.N.’s journey helps inform “Wit’s End” and acts as the fuel to his anger when he sees modern society hellbent to destroy itself over mere stupidity and the lust for false information. This record is cathartic to hear in the face of purposeful misleading data, a torch to its goddamn agenda that should burn and have its ash washed away.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/whollydoomedblackmetal
To buy the album (vinyl release TBA), go here: https://gileadmedia.net/products/mizmor-wits-end-cd-dvd
For more on the label, go here: https://gileadmedia.net/
Meat Mead Metal 