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"Litany for the Whale continue to make their viciously loud mark in the modern metal underworld, so committed to perfection that they recently scrapped an entire album before release. New songs have been drawn up and added to the set list, with previously absent vocals guiding the band's journey through epic, distorted, feedback-laden territory. Don't expect to make it out unscathed."
Seraphic Rumble
Litany for the Whale, this moment's loudest secret
Litany for the Whale are a relatively new phenomenon, but they've caught on quickly with their addictive brand of heavy, hypnotic drone. A couple of bare, broken lamplights christened the band's debut performance in January, introduced with a sparse two-note figure repeated for five minutes before breaking into a feedback-laden swirl of seraphic rumble. Featuring keyboards and drums pounded by Shane Goepel and paired with Jef Overn's gut-rattling bass, the rhythm section is mechanical, grounded, brutal; it's the soaring guitars of Richard McKee and Michael Conrad that scatter the more elastic side of the music's sound waves and threaten to slash the strings to which both band and listener are tied.
Though purely instrumental, the band's emotional effect is a very personal one. "I initially wanted to expose a part of myself that even I'm uncomfortable with sometimes," explains Conrad, Litany's frontman, a Boston transplant and documented Bukowski devotee. "But now I just want to be honest with everything we do. We never write anything that's specifically geared to an audience; we just look for when there's something greater happening at that moment. It's kind of unspoken." These are the moments that all musicians live for, and through a distorted exploration of life's darker side, Litany for the Whale, whether intentionally or not, provides a rapturous escape from the immediate world. There's no choice but to freeze in time and let the band overtake you, and it helps immeasurably that they're louder than shit.
Gabe Meline
Glacial tempos, an unwavering drone and 12-minute songs: If metalheads had a yoga class, the instructor would undoubtedly play Litany for the Whale. Named after the John Cage composition, they peddle in the harshest of lulls at a revolutionary time when metal is getting increasingly meditative.
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