November 2022 Feature Release - The Fallen Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Fallen has been nominated by me, Sonny. It is the brand new debut release, Quiescent, from Californian sludge/doom crew Dvvell.

https://metal.academy/releases/40100

Well, I've been hammering this album since first hearing it a couple of weeks ago as it has really got under my skin. Here's my review:

Well, apart from three or four fairly decent albums, 2022 has been a lukewarm year for Fallen-related releases as far as I am concerned. That however, may be about to change as Californian four-piece Dvvell come along with their debut album, Quiescent, and tear 2022 a new one! Quiescent is one bleak and desperate-sounding motherfucker of an album that anyone familiar with MSW's Hell project would immediately recognise due to it coming from a similar angst-filled and pissed-off place.

The album consists of four tracks all hovering around the quarter-of-an-hour mark and each named for a family member: Mother, Father, Son and Daughter. Now I don't know anything about the families these guys grew up in, but if the content of Quiescent is anything to go by, then it is unlikely that all was well behind the closed doors of these family homes. Musically, Dvvell combine funeral doom and sludge in an almighty howling roar of anger and defiance at an unfeeling universe that has delivered innumerable injustices upon our protagonists. The tracks are massive-sounding with huge walls of volume seared through by ascerbic vocal howls that shred the listener like corrugated roofing blown loose in a hurricane. There is very little sunlight to be found within Quiescent's hour, the sonic landscape presented being unremittingly bleak and unflinchingly ugly. This is an album designed to crush any hope out of the listener in order to allow them some insight into the tortured and desperate soul of the album's narrative.

Now I'm sure a psychologist somewhere would have a field day with the reasons why, but this is exactly the sort of shit that I live for in my Fallen liistening. This speaks to me in a way that I just don't "get" with so much other music, metal or otherwise. When I first put this album on last week, I felt a shiver down my spine as soon as it became apparent where this was going. As I said earlier, the obvious touchstone for me is Hell and I would suggest the guys from Dvvell are more than a little familiar with MSW's work with that project. Quiescent isn't merely a Hell copycat though, it contains an authenticity that suggests to me that this comes from the heart. It may not sound it, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to fake this sort of sound convincingly and believe me, Quiescent is very convincing indeed. This is an album for those who don't shy away from life's negativity, but rather embrace it and in so doing reach some form of catharsis from going along with it and buying into it's expression. Undoubtedly my favourite album since MSW's Obliviosus in 2020.

5/5

Here's my review of this outstanding feature release nomination:

I hadn’t had the pleasure of being introduced to Californian five-piece Dvvell before Sonny selected their brand new debut full-length “Quiescent” as the November feature release for our The Fallen clan but you can mark me down as being emphatically converted in a short space of time because this four-track album fits my taste profile to a tee. What we have here is a crushingly heavy & unapologetically dark piece of work that is relentless in its commitment to undiluted doom & it sounds just as good as that description sounds. That’s not to say that it’s a perfect record as there are some small challenges to overcome if you're to fully uncover the album's charms but there’s certainly enough quality here to satisfy the vast majority of the extreme doom audience.

“Quiescent” is benefitted from a thick & super-heavy production job which highlights the superbly tight rhythm section through a big bass guitar sound. The riffs invariably sit in the slow to medium-slow range & if the album has a weakness it’s definitely in its lack of variety because Dvvell define their sound very early on & stick to their guns throughout the entire hour’s duration. The Dvvell sound is really very simple to describe in all honesty. Slow riffs based entirely on open power-chords, ethereal tremolo-picked higher-register melodies that draw influence from post-rock & anguished female black metal screams… yep, that about sums it up really. So why is it so effective? I think it’s because of the execution which is absolutely top notch, particularly that of drummer Brett Weiser who is the clear highlight with his powerful metronomic performance giving the material the extra clout & precision it requires to consistently pummel the listener into submission. Brett’s kick drum hits in exact unity with every dinosauric power chord & his fills maintain my interest during the sections where the music is completely devoid of hooks. The melodies I mentioned don’t always hit exactly on the sweet spot they’re aiming for but when they do (as in the first half of closing track & album highlight “Daughter”) they can be seriously effective & I find myself hanging out for those moments while sitting through the album as a whole.

It's interesting that most websites seem to label “Quiescent” (& most albums like it) as sludge metal, often with the doom component being tagged as funeral doom metal. I struggle to find the sludge metal in this release to be honest as there’s not a lot of abrasive hardcore anger going on. Personally, I’d suggest that this release represents a strong case for the “blackened doom metal” tag as the music is clearly doom metal & the vocals just as obviously come from black metal realms rather than sludge metal aggression. The consistently slow tempos do hint at funeral doom metal at times & I find myself being reminded of England’s Moss in that regard but I don’t think the atmosphere is ever in line with the mournful slumbers that we generally expect from that particular subgenre. Instead I'd suggest that it shares more similarities with that of artists like fellow Californians Chrch or Oregon’s Hell although those bands admittedly change things up a bit more than Dvvell do.

Despite the saminess that “Quiescent” is undeniably guilty of, I simply can’t deny the appeal of an unapologetically dark & doomy release like this one, particularly when the execution is as powerful as it is here. “Quiescent” commands the listener to play it super-loud so as to become engulfed by the sheer weight of sound with the blackened vocals of Kristy Senko-Hall beckoning you to embrace the darkness.

For fans of Chrch, Hell & Moss.

4.5/5

Well shit; it turns out that I have been remarkably tardy when it comes to the Fallen clan in recent months. In fact, my last review of a featured release from this clan was Type O Negative's World Coming Down back in July. And I feel a little regret in this because I have most likely been missing out on some crushing, Sonny nominated Doom metal such as this!

One of my biggest criticisms of the limited funeral doom that I've reviewed here is its clunkiness. What we have here on the debut album from Dvvell has the production quality of a death doom project from My Dying Bride or Swallow the Sun. There is a pristine level of polish to the instrumentals and the performances throughout the record. Even the malformed vocal timbre is precise.

What makes Dvvell stand out from those death doom albums is the suffocating atmosphere, which is heavily influenced by M.S.W. or to a lesser extent, Ahab. These four tracks have some titanic low ends, which allows for the post-metal adjacent guitar leads and vocals to pierce through the wallowing atmosphere. Which does lead into songwriting and I must admit, Dvvell did a fantastic job of defying my initial expectations. Every track is close to fifteen minutes and while it certainly feels like this is the case, each one has more than enough modulation to not make it too redundant over these extended runtimes. This is most notable in those guitar leads and vocals rather than just a monotonous implication of the open power chords for the entire runtime. RYM has drone metal listed as a subgenre and I can see it, but those lead parts are enough of a change of pace that I think we can devalue that as a subgenre.

If I had to criticize this record for anything, it would probably be how tracks end, specifically "Mother" and "Son" with their extended electronic/ambient passages that don't really develop the tune that just finished, or prepare the listener for the next tune all that well. Otherwise, this is a splendid release. This is an example of doom metal in its highest quality and continues to impress with each subsequent listen. Ahab sounds like a big influence and for me, that is the highest compliment.

9/10