Album Review // 2022-02-23

Allegaeon

Damnum

Released: 2022-02-25

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This band is pretty new to me - I have only heard a song here or there prior to this album. It seems they have had many member changes over the years. The lead guitarist has been the only stable member. Every other instrument, including vocals, has changed at least once. I cannot speak to the ways they have switched it up sound-wise over the years, so I have just put on fresh ears to music that is new to me.

Riley has spoke about not wanting to force the band to stay in the box that had been built over the years. Part of the way they made that happen for this album was by involving all five members in the writing process in a very collaborative way. Greg mentions the huge switch in having everyone present for recording this album, as well. 

The name of the band began as Allegiance but changed because of so many bands with the name. They didn't completely give it up and kept something similar, Allegaeon.

Damnum means loss in Latin, which is very fitting for the times, with so many people losing out in one way or another. Apparently, the band themselves experienced a lot of death in the last few years, which made this theme very cathartic. The title was said to be an easier aspect that everyone agreed on.

Album Art

There is a lot going on in this artwork. The featured girl in the middle is holding onto something, maybe a clock or compass, which may indicate a need for direction. Her stomach area seems to have a bunch of wheels and cranks, almost like machinery or maybe indicating inner turmoil. She actually has rope tied around her arms, which signals she isn't free to do what she wants. A struggle seems to have taken place, as a candle is knocked to the floor near to a puddle of blood. I imagine the handwriting that can be seen in two spots has a lot of meaning behind it. I question if the writing and words here may be in line with some of the lyrics which the band said are taken directly from the notes left behind by friends they lost, as well as significant literature associated with those friends. There are many little details in this piece of art, and I am sure each detail has meaning. Maybe it has to have lots in order to encompass the loss of a group of five people.

Mood

The mood is honest; it sometimes feels like it is succumbing to the heaviness of life. It is sometimes raw with pain. It is wishing something went differently but accepting that change won't happen. I have a visual mind and I see a hand pressing down, being under something heavy. I think we can all relate to this feeling at some time or another.

Music

This is a mixed bag. It really goes all over the place, from strummy acoustic sounds to faster alternative music sounds, from progessive portions to tech death sounds. I like the overall quick pace and much prefer the heavier songs. The death metal riffs, drums and bassiness of some songs were done right for me. There are many lead guitar moments, and though I am not someone who loves too much of this, they seem to work it into the music nicely - maybe because they don't dwell there, and are progressive in nature. Though, for example, in Saturnine, they lost me with the lead work around two minutes in. I heard the band say they wanted to make each song sound like them, and not too starkly contrasted; I have to say, they really do seem very different from each other. It is enough that I can really like individual songs, but not the album in it's entirety. I can't define the sound because it changes. This was such a collaborative approach and seems to be the way the band was led. I am glad they chose to do that, because music should mean something to the people creating it. I am sure it will be just right for some people. 

Vocals

I can tell you with certainty that the growly vocal is much harder to make out than the higher scream growl (I was trying to decipher the lyrics while listening), but I like them both. The lower growl has a weird calmness about it. The fast-paced vocal parts are a welcome way to mix it up, for me, but the singing just isn't necessary to make me happy (though the singing part at the end of To Carry My Grief Through Torpor and Silence actually worked to me). That Foo Fighter-esque part at around 2:30 during Of Beast and Worms just felt confusing, like they shoved a different song in there. Then they have Opeth-like moments, such as in Into Embers and Called Home, which caught me off guard. Considering the emotion surrounding Called Home, changing it up does make sense for the song. The occasional pig squeal is forgivable and, I suppose, expected. I can't deny the talent, but sometimes people just do too much for what I like to hear.

Lyrics

Note: In regard to lyrics for this album, I did my best to hear what was being said. If I have made any mistakes here, I do apologize and I will make corrections once I am aware.

Bastards of the Earth

Seems to be about not feeling like you are a part of this world. Feeling like an alien that has no place.

Our spirits transmuted, thrust into a world
Into darkness  roasted by the sun
All approach light bugs the eyes 
Forced into a world, into darkness roasted by the sun
Imagine us it must be
Stumbling out into the unseen to calm the power unending

Of Beasts and Worms

I think this song speaks of giving up, in a sense. Just wanting to join those you have lost, the things that didn't happen, the things that upset you.

This is the place where I rest my bones
And the river that cleanses me runs alone
To be there where my spirit longs
And sleep in soil forevermore

Ragged and weary, awake, trembling
From the snap in the air as the shivering breeze
Mimics the frailty escaping from these
Whimpering lungs that can barely breathe
Dreams that have carried me vanish away
The mist, long arisen, painted in gray

Into Embers

I think this is about once having a dream or a big idea, and having it all fall apart. 

Places I fear, this dream I once held dear is disappearing
The picture of a world of gray is getting clear
So many differences, interpretations taking place
The dream I once held dear is fading away

To Carry My Grief Through Torpor and Silence

Together with this title and lyrics, this makes me think of how, during grief, you may need some time to yourself, some time where there isn't talking or interaction, isn't a bunch of activity, isn't anything that needs to be or can be done.

I can't bear to carry any of this pain anymore
My body  strength  I am wasting away
I say these word with blades of iron
The damage might do my disease
Aiding all of my fears
Take me further from safety from everyone
Take me further away

Vermin

You ever feel like so much has been taken from you? Like you have nothing left to take? I think that is what this is about.

So come and take it, it's all in the name of your innocence
So come and take it So, cold and graceless 
All monsters with nightmare  ....   again
You will never take it away
the birds are all inside us enrages 
you will never take it away
It never dies only morphs and shapes us again

Called Home

This is based on the very real experiences of the band members. Some of them have lost people to suicide this past few years, and this song is related to that loss. It clearly is full of wishes for the person suffering to have not suffered alone, to have reached out to people. Wishing they knew what was going on. Unfortunately, depression can be hidden; people can suffer tremendously and, like a physical illness, people require support and help to get through. 

Colder colder they go, sun less days in the snow
Often and over and over again
Thoughts that won't come to rest
Why did you suffer this alone, all alone

Blight

Based on this name and lyrics, it seems like this song has a sense of being spoiled and things falling apart. Maybe in that moment you see something. I think there is a lot of truth to the idea that you don't see things when you are in them. Almost like you have blinders on. I think this can happen with both good and bad things.

When the bird finally comes let it say, up to the surface from where we are seated
This was seas breath in and out
A billion souls from cost of doubt
The first time you feel alive is right before you die

Your future faded with blood bound irrigated
The shell I leave behind quickly becoming the lie
Avert to those below 

The Dopamine Void, Pt. I

This seems to be speaking to the idea that something was expected, but isn't going to happen - a hope that falls apart.

Holding on destined to act in the place with a faceless God
Holding out waiting for great reward at the end of the madness
Whoa
Emptiness awaits everything here drifts into darkness and disappears 
No joy will be told at the end of the world
There is nothing, there is nothing at all

The Dopamine Void, Pt. II

This continues on, and goes with the feeling of there being nothing.

There is nothing at all
Nothing await us
In life we tell ourselves to survive
This is a waste of time

Saturnine

This makes me think of staring into a black hole, literally in the universe, and feeling like there is nothing.

Into the void
Forevermore into a light of a storm that will never die open closing choking on all ...... that .....tomorrow
Forevermore in

Only Loss

This is sitting in the idea of there being nothing, no hope.

No no on hope of going forward
no no an inescapable heart
I will show up just as always

I tried to find my reason in mind inside the lie
No no hope for us
no hope against this
I tried to die

Playlist Picks

A mixed bunch of songs that at least kept me wondering. Some I really like, and some don't quite do it for me.

I will put Into Embers on my playlist. There are quite a few different things going on in this song, but it is still moving forward, which I like.

To Carry My Grief Through Torpor and Silence will also make it to my playlist. I can identify with the lyrics, and this song is kind of unexpected in the way it is laid out - but in a good way.