Weary: Demo 2018 (Washington State, U.S.)

Weary: Demo 2018

1.Offering to the Madonna of Sorrows 06:45

2.Unto the Shadowy Depths... 07:45

3.A Ghost That Never Was 07:05

Weary is a new entity launched in 2018, but Sam (drums and lyrics) and Jess (strings and vocals) don’t lack experience, which is why they quickly issued the Demo 2018 recording. On July 28th, 2019 we talked about the music of Weary with the band. When people ask what genre it is Jess says, “I don’t even know what to call it.” Both Sam and Jess express the view that they don’t care about the rules of the genres. It’s heavy, it’s extreme metal, but they go as far as to say that grunge is in there in the music in some small way. It may not be that obvious, but, as Sam explains, when they were young kids listening to radio rock, that’s what young people in Washington State heard on the airwaves. Sam emphasizes that he has always liked a good melody, including if it’s black metal or extreme metal in general or whatever else it is.

When they were coming up with the new music, they had the feeling that it was not really sticking to any particular genre. The name of the band comes from being tired of the nonsense of scene cliques and scene politics. The recording has a lot of black metal in it (Sam and Jess used to be in the unorthodox black metal band Sacrament ov Impurity), but they don’t claim to uphold any definition of traditional black metal. At the same time, when they go into speed mode, the sound, the riffs, the vocals and the drums leave no doubt that fast extreme metal is a persistent part of the sound. On the demo, headbanging metal is the dominant force, but the softer, quieter and melodic passages offer an ear-catching contrast. The music in certain places has a catchiness that might surprise attentive listeners. For instance, the third song, although enveloped in an extreme metal framework, begins with a riff that rocks and this is one of the ways that the traditional heavy metal, hard/classic rock and grunge may be manifesting themselves in subtle ways. It will be interesting to hear where things go from here. The band plans to begin recording the debut album in the fall of 2019.

They have been writing and rehearsing, and on August 17th at Evelyn’s Tavern in Clear Lake, Washington they will be on the following bill: Entrails (reactivated Skagit County punk/thrash), Weary, The Unfortunates, and others. When asked about the live presentation for Weary, Jess adds that they will play in street clothes without any ritualistic ornaments on stage. In terms of geography, if this writer’s memory is correct, the band explained that Clear Lake is, more or less, in between Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley in Skagit County, Washington where the show will happen.

wearyband.bandcamp.com

facebook.com/WearyMusic/

facebook.com/events/2244210415895319/