Customer Reviews

Head & The Heart

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"There is a folk legend of a little boy who finds in the forest a bird with a beautiful song and brings it home. He asks his father to bring food for the bird. The father doesn't want to feed a mere bird, so he kills it. And the legend says the man killed the bird, and with the bird he killed the song, and with the song, he killed himself. He dropped dead, completely dead, and was dead forever." ~Joseph Campbell

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immensely rough sludge-core riffage entwined with progressive harmonic interludes and set over deep bellowing vocals, another great sludge-doom band to hear.

album length: just over 47 minutes.

Deadbird isn't comparable to many. Isis, Pelican, Cult of Luna? perhaps. They remind a lot of Capricorns, but less refined with a much harsher sound.

The theme of this band orientates around hope/despair, the lyrics themselves quite poetic with lots of dark imagery painting a rather bleak, ominous landscape while still retaining a glimmer of beauty in its midst.

the music is just as foreboding, lots of dense coarse textures that culminate deep crushing riffs as well as more gentle melodic passages that evolve and develope once again into even more crushing riffs. the band also use a few various voice samples in their songs to set the tone and create a more troubled/perplexing atmosphere.

anyone into sludge/doom/stoner should pick up this record without question.

oh man, this album. it has such a special place in my heart. it's gross, gloomy, dark, whiskey-soaked, a little drunk, and PERFECT. it's meaningful and sensative, a little scary, HEAVY, and just breath-taking all at the same time.

first of all, from start to finish, it's a terrifically cohesive album. it flows like it's one long singularity, but has the punctuating silences listeners often need---not like "ghost" by buried and sea or sleep's dopesmoker or other hour-long single-tracks--but like a concept album.

the head and the heart is a place you go--and it's so nice there. the drummer MAKES the album, he's the glue--and the first thing i loved about listening to this. he plays like he's juuuuuuust trying to catch up. "be there in a sec, guys--" all the beats and fills are stumble-drunk and come in on half-notes (or something odd)...it's just a perfect musical entry. not out of time, not out of sequence, just oddly phrased and wonderful and interesting.

the vocals are gross and lovely..."lying awake. i get no sleep this way." he sings it so strange, but it was the first re-occuring song-piece i had to keep going back to. they often come in heavy then fade into a meandering dark arpeggiated trek through the woods. it just takes you places. i love it.

as humans, especially in love, one of the hardest things we have to do is reconcile the head with the heart. this is what that struggle sounds like...

Fantastic atmospheric metal-core in the vein of Isis and Cult of Luna - and also the little know band of the same ilk - Callisto. They place more emphasis on the heavier soundscapes than aforementioned bands but do maintain that nice balance of quiet and heavy. A unique sound of their own, within this subgenre, they just do what they do very well, with a touch for dynamics, an ability to meld interesting and mood-setting riffs with a few nicely placed samples. Don those earphones and sink into this well-crafted effort - Isis are on of my fave ever bands and its a must get if you have same affinity. Highly recommended - 48 minute running time