Noceur and Dilapidation close out 2018 with an alliance

Tucked far away in the northwesternmost corner of the mainland of the United States of America, where the peaks of the mountains meet the greyed horizon’s mass of rainclouds and the warm rays of the sun cannot cut through, where the people retreat from the cold, wet streets in an effort to find some warmth in the comfort of a libation to wake up the soporific effect brought about by the miserable climate, there, in bars all over the western side of the state of Washington, be it on a Saturday night or a Tuesday night, one finds Noceur on the stage, working the invocation of the avant-garde dimensions, and there, one finds Dilapidation taking the mass of density as far as they can in front of anyone looking to connect with the practice of grave gargantuanism. The audiences there, those loyal participants in the stubborn but cordial scene of extreme metal music, get plenty, if they so choose, of exposure to both bands, given their regular appearances in local shows. Once in a while both bands may share the stage, as they recently have in 2018.

Their collaboration has taken a turn for the better in order to finish 2018 on a high note. Noceur offers two songs: “Never Sleeping, Ever Watching (07:14) and “Beneath the Symbol” (09:04). Noceur’s tracks underline their tendency to create a rather capricious sense of extreme art cacophony and harmony, a contorted game within another perturbing game, a twisted propensity for hoping to challenge, and irritate if need be, the listener into taking the time to look beyond the chaos and see the order. A person can understand Noceur, but only if the person wants to hear a band finding its own ways of crosspollination in the extreme and the avant-garde. Even after several rounds of Noceur’s songs, the listener might be wondering about the form and function of this black metal art. Where are you, listener? Are you still there? Can you keep up? How far off have wandered? Do you remember where you were and where are you now? Do you remember what they told you? That’s the proposition of Noceur. It is Noceur to Noceur with a mirror to you.

From day one, the goal has always been the same for Dilapidation: for the sounds to seem as they are coming from down in a hole in the ground. Big. Heavy. Massive. Pounding. Slow. Fast. Slow again. Fast again. A constant, thick groove weaving its way through the fog. When Dilapidation takes the stage no one can see their faces because the stage is engulfed in a cloud of smoke from the fog machine, further creating the impression that they are buried deep in the sound of the death doom that is the mission. This time around Dilapidation provides two songs “Rotting Genesis” (04:02) and “Damned in Exile” (06:42). The first song showcases the efficiency of a compact track, strengthened through a natural, honest way of recording. The blasting speed and the death metal heaviness sound gigantic in the hands of Dilapidation. Then, the last track busts out the doom big time. At one point, the band lets the drums stand out almost alone so that you can hear them pound slowly: up (pause), down (pause), up (pause), down (pause), for a little while, and the sound of a metallic clang, coming up and down, up and down, then the droning guitars and the gruff growling come from that previously mentioned hole deep in the ground. Dilapidation, headbanging and contemplation, and the search for subterranean peace goes on and on.

Let’s hope 2019 brings more from both bands.

nocturnalmetalofdeath.bandcamp.com

dilapidation.bandcamp.com/album/noceur-dilapidation