Deadbird 

Twilight Ritual

At A Loss Records 2008

This is my first experience with the mammoth beast that is known as Deadbird.  Hailing from Arkansas the southern influence is noticeable though not overwhelming.  Grimy rolling riffs and angry as fuck vocals create a sound that is at times both doomy and hateful.  The album starts off with the melancholic monstrosity of Into the Clearing where the main riff would blind Anathema with envy and the clean vocals serve as a vulnerable counterpoint to the normal rough and scratchy ones.  Death of the Self picks up the tempo a slight bit and settles into a nice groove and once again those vocal harmonies are so sincere and injured sounding.  Whereas Rule Discordia is anchored by a post hardcore skeleton covered by muscles of sheer spite.  Yet Deadbird juxtapose this masculine power with acoustic guitars and desperate yearning vocals.  Feral Flame is exactly as its name would imply, aggressive and very hardcore fueled at its roots.  My favorite track has to be The Riverbed with its lazy afternoon clean guitars and dreamy vocal harmonies which eventually give way to thoughtful brutishness.  Each song though filled with brooding malice is also dripping with desperation and regret.  The guitar tone on Twilight Ritual is a superb of down-tuned Stockholm heaviness and southern sludge.  The alternating vocals bring depth and heartfelt emotion to these songs and raise this album to a higher standard than if they used only one style.  With Twilight Ritual, Deadbird has created an album of dirge-laden heaviness that is both beautiful and brutal, sad and angry.  An album of intelligent contrast.  The perfect soundtrack to vengeful remorse.