MAERE - I
April 1, 2020, 4 years ago
(Independent)
Germany's Maere get a lot right here on their debut EP, the band diving deep into the depths that groups like Phobocosm or Ulcerate operate in, a sort of post-Gorguts dissonant death metal clang und clatter that just takes you deeper, deeper, deeper into the depths.
Sometimes the band is blasting but even then there's a slow, sinister lurch to things; other times they just straight-up bring you into their sludge, their tar, their doom. I like it when things get angular and weird, like Knut covering Immolation (hello, “I Ascend”), but when the band does their militant march of jarring death/doom (“I Am”) I'm also paying attention, big time. This whole EP is hit after hit, really, closer “I, Transcending” just totally sealing the deal that this band has absolutely nailed the most important part of this sort of subterranean DM: atmosphere. It's here, to a suffocating degree, which is just how it should be. I love the not-exhausting 27-minute runtime, but this band could pull off an album pushing 45 minutes and it wouldn't be overbearing; it would feel like a journey. This is an absolutely fantastic debut from a band that has a very bright future ahead of them; I know I'll tune in to see what they do next.
