The sopor-drenched dagger of Hypnos cutting the psyche into strands in production of surrealistic, fringed shapes crudely ripped by blunted blade and dismal utterances in dictation of ghoul-whitened thoughts, stark and raving in their dust-filled abysmal air. The collapsing cries of the purposeless in containment, a guttural despair felt when betrayed by one’s dulled sense of survival, eat away at the incomplete fringes of the mind’s fortitude ’til lank and dried as a flag hung and beaten against a stone wall. Defeat encircles the mentality of the artist, neither categorical nor mindful documentarian left to wring history from the follies of self-assured mankind, no hysteria to align for or against. What remains is a loss of generative potential, a frayed permanence slapped and shattered from the increasingly drowsy, fumbling hand of the man-apart. Tilburg, Netherlands based atmoblackened doom quartet Ggu:ll posit what remains beyond the ruins of a great works dissolved by time, the fate of toppling archaeologic fare which quickly becomes detritus in natural dissolve, as their sophomore full-length drones and wilts along an otherwise renewed path inwards. ‘Ex Est‘ is a trip which builds the case for considerable depth by way of persistent self-checked progression, a fine march into spiral’d dread which has no more clearer goal than to simply wander into the unknown and find a path (any path) beyond.

Ggu:ll (“ghoul“) formed back in 2009 as a droning psychedelic doom metal quartet that’d certainly sounded built off regular jam sessions on their first demo and a few recorded live performances circa 2010. It’d be some time before they’d present a produced and public submitted work but it seems the original lyrical concept of the band was admirably dark and literary, though a bit odd with songs named after dates + cause of death which indicated writers who’d committed suicide. The first LP from the group (‘Dwaling‘, 2016) would only feature one of these largely instrumental pieces (“March 28 1941, Drowning”, read: Virginia Woolf) as a calming endnote for the record but it was their first EP (‘Waan:Hoon‘, 2014) that’d made clear the evolved essence of the band in motion, albeit within loosely droning doom framework. My thoughts back in 2016 were a bit cynical if I’m to be completely honest, finding their music appreciably geared towards the ante-up cache of the Roadburn crowd in concept and design yet delivering riffs that’d no chance of either experiential or memorable quality, at least not for my taste at the time. That said, I’d been excited to hear what they’d come up with after just over five years away from the studio thanks to a brilliant custom Comaworx piece adorning their album cover and a bit more active, electrically charged set of miserable dirges this time around.

A new, unpronounced blackening. — What develops now on album number two is still more-or-less an especially dark vision of post-metal influenced doom shuffling, a form of atmospheric not-sludge which features the aesthetic implication of unholiness per occult/atmospheric black metal (and extreme doom) in light ratio with the rhythmic dramatism of modern psychedelic/ritualistic metal. Its major feature lies within distraught and barren invocation which occasionally collapses into violent tirade, an experience which is guaranteed to be the exact right bad mood music for the non-traditional doom head seeking immersion without any too complex involvement on the part of the rhythms. The only real ask is that the listener is along for the ride, taking the journey into mystery alongside without any particular expectation of outcome in mind beyond the swelling of the moment. The result is some significant accumulation of atmospheric depth within music that persists along a somewhat linear passage, a relatively safe vantage point in witness of a slow-maturing sonic black hole. It takes a bit of a long, unbroken stare into said abyss to reach any sort of immersion and there are no guarantees made in terms of meaning yet the ritualistic psychedelic doom-ride it takes the ear on manages to be pleasurably haunting as soon as its waxing and waning becomes familiar in scope.

With a bit of rounding-off ‘Ex Est‘ manages a set of six approximately ~7 minute songs which persist at similar pace of reveal, a few of which evolve into aggressive cinematic blustering (“Enkel Achterland“) as they slowly build towards said cresting moment. I appreciate the modern notion of extended builds serving a key fixation on a moment herein yet I’m not sure this is the type of album which pays out its most golden moments through heavy or torrential acts, the payoff for picking through the bitterness of the pomegranate isn’t there, so to speak. The listless, half-tension of “Samt al-ras” delivers much more of a tangible affect, a dreary and disillusioned feeling which Ggu:ll do well to leave hanging in the air, distended and sore. When certain pieces begin to edge into a sort of black/doom level of drain (see: “Hoisting Ruined Sails”)  the real wonderment of the album begins to peek through its cloudiness to some appreciable degree but I couldn’t help but feel like the song itself was held back considerably by its placement in the back-half the running order and between two pieces which aren’t immediately distinguishable in tone. There are a few major triumphs and a lot of above-average stewing about here but nothing I could truly bemoan.

Vacuous production values and a particularly shoulder-set drum presence should peck at the organische atmosludge fan’s ear first and foremost as a grand sense of space creates the illusion of movement within relatively easy-going pace. It’ll assuredly appeal less so the sort of folks who’re driven to black/doom metal to start and more to the atmospheric, ritualistic, and stoner sludge-imbued spectrum of extreme doom fandom. There are many fine and redeeming traits to be found on ‘Ex Est‘ from my point of observation and the ritualistic dread-searching soul of the record is appreciable yet I’d found myself constantly stuck in a corridor of waiting for a couple of the more substantial pieces (“Falter”, “Hoisting Ruined Sails”) while the rest of the album acted as gluiest aspic filling in between bursts of prime coloration. I’ve the patience for the wait but perhaps not the inebriation that’ll juice things along and provide the ideal mindset, I suppose. Ggu:ll‘s second LP ultimately landed as an above-average record in my book, returning with a much stronger character built and some appreciable attention paid to the distinction of each piece yet it never quite shoved me over the railing into its depths and convinced me the journey or the destination were exceptional. A moderately high recommendation.

ARTIST:	GGU:LL
TITLE:	Ex Est
LABEL(S):	Consouling Sounds
RELEASE DATE:	October 22nd, 2022

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