Rise Above Dead      

Stellar Filth
Moment Of Collapse Records/Shove Records 2013

Crushing Italian, post-hardcore doom that leaves you stricken with silence.  The new album from Rise Above Dead is all that, and something deeply more.  Hide And Weep, the album's opener undulates and slowly arcs skyward with its riffs before they collapse into oceans of churning guitars.  The vocals are possessed of a more rabid quality than most of Rise Above Dead's peers.  A quiet period of introspective, clean guitar and stark drumming washes over the song before once again succumbing to the gargantuan riffs.  Creeping, sleepily like the first light of dawn, the clean guitar at the beginning of No Land Toward The Sea ushers in bombastic, reverberating walls of guitar and smashing drums that roll, like lava towards the listener.  The bass guitar and jazzy drums that close out the song are a nice touch.  Bury Them In Dust carries on the momentum of the previous composition, massive riffs slowly overwhelm the listener, however there is a really strong sense of longing buried in this song.  Subtle synth surfaces and brings to mind similarities to Thergothon.  Light Release simmers before a slow-motion boil that bubbles with riffs brimming with yearning emotions and sensitive heaviness.  Forlorn melodies are pulverized beneath mammoth riffs and deathly vocals as the track winds along its journey towards determined and bitter enlightenment.  Treading fields planted with the same seed as bands like Neurosis and Amenra, Rise Above Dead is slightly more nihilistic in their overall sound, yet the emotional depth and spiritual intensity are still there.  Stellar Filth leaves me staring into oblivion, feelings drained and strength sapped.