- Country: USA
- Style: Sludge metal / Post-metal
- Label: Relapse Records
- Release date: 8 July 2016
Trying to file Paradise Gallows under one genre is a losing game. The Richmond, Virginia band pull from sludge, doom, black metal, post-metal and even dusty Americana, and the remarkable thing is how naturally it all hangs together. This is a long, demanding record, but it rewards every minute you give it.
“An Archer in the Emptiness” sets the bar with a wall of sludge so thick you could stand a spoon in it, but “Transfiguration” is the real monster, lurching from swampy sludge into a full-on black metal assault and back down into a crawling trudge without a single transition feeling forced. “The Summer Drones” is all pounding toms and dread, the kind of song that sounds like weather rolling in.
Where the album really surprises is in its quieter half. The title track and the closing “Where the Earth Meets the Sky” lean into melody, slow-burning guitar leads and an almost Southern melancholy, and the band handle those moments as convincingly as the heaviest ones. If there’s a weak spot, it’s that the sheer length can wear you down on a casual listen, and “Violent Constellations” doesn’t quite justify its place between the title track and the finale. Minor gripes. Few American metal records from 2016 aimed this high and hit the target this often.
Best tracks:
Transfiguration
The Summer Drones
An Archer in the Emptiness
Where the Earth Meets the Sky
Author’s rating: 8.8/10
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