A dark, dramatic, intense collection of relatively extreme music, Death.Horses.Black. (Listenable Records) is delivered with commitment and no small expertise by Belgian prog-stoner outfit My Diligence.
There are elements of shoegaze, post-metal and doom thrown into the mix of the band’s fourth long player, but the focus is on the mission and the emphasis is on that commitment (fearlessness, even) – commitment to the project, commitment to a particular sound. It’s a very saturated sound, fuzzy, dissonant and distorted, with lots of atmospheric effects and some harsh vocals.
Are there many memorable musical moments, passages you will want to return to, again and again? Or do My Diligence, at times, find themselves lost up their own obscure niche?
“Death” opens proceedings, deep, dark and droning, before climbing out of that darkness, towards the climax, with no small emphasis on the melodic and anthemic.
“Horses” has more of a swagger, a martial marching mood, with protesting, squalling and screaming. The vocals (Cedric Fontaine) recall Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman near his potentially unhinged and emotional peak, and then the powerful drums (from Gabriel Marlier) and chiming guitars (Fontaine and Francois Peeters are the fretboard specialists) take us home again.
Three tracks in and the album title is completed by the tad overlong “Black”, on the surface a bit more jolly and still more punky, but obviously part of the same suite of harsh, bitter music.
There is some light amid the maelstrom with the post-Punk-slash-New Romantic intro to “Auspicious”, one of the more easily accessible tracks, with its writhing, propulsive, chug-tastic spine, more melodies and coruscating lead geetar.
Then there’s the central, really quite spectacular, heavy riffing epic, “Allodiplogaster Sudhausi” (all the tracks but one run at more than five minutes, with “Allodiplogaster Sudhausi” the longest at 10 plus). The title “Allodiplogaster Sudhausi” apparently refers to a large, cannibalistic, soil-dwelling worm, for all you fans of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and of Edinburgh-formed Dvne, tourmates of My Diligence.
“Lucid Alley”, particularly, sounds like two different songs being played at the same time. The final track “Sacred Anchor” is a bit like that, too, but has some fine moments, largely thanks to drummer Marlier, and with singer Fontaine shining throughout.
The Death.Horses.Black. experience can be confusing, dislocating, I am sure quite deliberately so. Specialist listeners of this kind of thing might not mind the lack of “bangers”, but the album is hard work at times, and not always good company. Play it loud, though, immerse yourself in the experience, and there is still much to enjoy. It is certainly more distinctive than many “similar” records out there.
Buy the album here:
https://shop-listenable.net/en/1062_my-diligence
7 / 10
CALLUM REID