How are you feeling right about now? Good? Nah. Unless you’re slopping all of the latest events like a hungry pig starving for fascism, you got to be pretty sick about now. It’s hard to hold any hope. That’s kind of the point. They don’t want you to have hope. But why do they get to win? We don’t roll over for that shit, even when they demand we show our bellies.

The four artists who make up Guiltless certainly are aware of everything and have been living in this strange, dangerous time, and their debut full length “Teeth to Sky” addresses some of this. Though maybe not in a way you might expect. See, there are ways to control our own narratives, to find solace, so find peace, to turn off the noise. Here, the band—vocalist/guitarist Josh Graham, guitarist Dan Hawkins, bassist Sacha Dunable, drummer Billy Graves—refuses to give in to the negativity and use their combination of doom, post-metal, and black metal to carve out a different path. These guys have backgrounds in other groups such as Neurosis, Intronaut, A Storm of Light, and plenty others, and they bring that energy and knowledge to create a pummeling, yet nicely portioned record that still lashes back at the power structures but also tries to urge the listeners to rise above that and fight for the lives we choose to live.  

“Into Dust Becoming” opens in guitar squall, leading to bruising howls and the ground being crushed, Graham calling, “Are we really alive? Were we ever alive?” That pace keeps pushing with force, grime hanging overhead, the pace staying punching and bruising. “One Is Two” opens with throaty cries and sinewy guitars, everything feeling muscular and smoky. The heat increases as the tempo drubs minds, a steely and humid gasp reverberating into oblivion. “In Starless Reign” brings barometric pressure as the bass quivers, and yowled vocals bend your will, the guitars digging deeper into wounds. The wails get throatier as steady blows land, mixing into darker, filthier terrain as Graham calls, “Where we’re from and where we’ll go!” “Our Serpent in Circle” has sounds surrounding as the piece develops, slowly landing blows that still have massive impact. Vocals drive as the ambiance turns harder toward doom fires, the intensity increasing and spitting, Graham repeatedly wailing, “When we fall,” as everything ends in tingling detachment.

The title track has the bass coiling and jarring, howls pummeling, the feel going a little psychedelic before getting meatier. Cleaner singing and spoken bits swim through your head as blood surges, the guitars carve new tributaries, and everything bows to corrosion. “Lone Blue Vale” enters amid a strange sheen, guitars churning as the vocals dig in their fingers, the pace trudging and fucking with your balance. The power increases as the pressure feels like it’s squeezing your skull, a synth cloud emerging and whipping everything into darkness. “Landscape of Thorns” has layered screams and a forceful gust, driving as the howls smear, and sootiness collects underfoot. The riffs get fuzzier before turning bloodier, combusting to a smoldering end. Closer “Illumine” is the longest track, running 7:06 and entering amid bass flexing and a deliberate attack designed to mete out optimal heat. Guitars murmur as everything turns more menacing, screams belting flesh, a vicious force multiplying before suddenly fading.

“Teeth to Sky” holds a message that might be hard for a lot of us to embrace right now as political and societal upheaval peel back our mental wounds, but that’s a good thing. We’re still alive and we still have possibilities in front of us, and giving up on those is a form of surrender that we do not have to offer. Guiltless have be here to pummel with their sounds, but they also remind us to fight for what we have and appreciate every breath because that’s a form of power that the corrupt worldly leaders will have to pry away from us.

For more on the band, go here: https://guiltless.bandcamp.com/album/teeth-to-sky

To buy the album, go here: https://music.neurotrecordings.com/guiltless-album.oem

For more on the label, go here: https://www.neurotrecordings.com/