By Aniruddh ‘Andrew’ Bansal
For the past 20-plus years, Indian doom-infused death metal band Dying Embrace have been flag bearers of the genre in the country. Throughout this time, they stayed true and underground, and that’s why they’re still somewhat of a mysterious entity to many people. Their old releases are simply out of print or extremely hard to find. After seeing them perform at last year’s Bangalore Open Air Festival, I was absolutely convinced that their music is the real deal and not a mere gimmick. Their live show was powerful enough to stay in my memory for a long time after that gig, and I’ve kept in touch with their activities ever since.Now, much to the delight of their cult following, all of their past releases have been put together into the ‘Era Of Tribulation’ compilation.
The ‘Misanthrope’ 7-inch EP, ‘Grotesque’ tape EP, ‘Serenades Of Depravity’ mini-album and ‘Dying Embrace’ demo, in that order, have been taken in their original form and compiled onto this album. Of course, these tunes feature the classic Dying Embrace lineup of Vikram Bhat on vocals, Jimmy Palkhivala on guitar, Jai ‘Sarge’ Kumar on bass and Daniel Marc David on drums. This 14-track album is an intriguing journey into the band’s past, a journey that any doom metal fan would enjoy.
In 1991 the band initially formed under the Misanthrope name, and in 1993 they put out a self-titled 2-track demo tape limited to a mere 10 copies. This demo was reissued in 2002 in 7-inch vinyl format, and the first part of ‘Era Of Tribulation’ is this very 7-inch, consisting of the tracks ‘Blood Rites’ and ‘Cromlech Of Hate’. It’s extremely raw, which gives the listener the rare chance to absorb most if not all of the ‘low end’. The sound is very ominous and ear-crushing if listened to at high volumes, and it has an organic, ‘in-the-room’ type of feel. In terms of the music itself, the first one is pure doom, while the second has thrash undertones. It gives the true indication of what the band sounded like back in 1993.
Moving on to the ‘Grotesque’ part, the volume level and sound changes completely because we’re shifting from a 7-inch EP to a tape EP. The low end is not as prominent, but the three Grotesque tracks on the whole are more ‘listenable’, if you can call it that. All three tracks on here ‘The Passing Away’, ‘Grotesque Entity’ and ‘Oremus Diabolum’ boast of some purely delightful guitar work which is the most striking feature of this EP, and offers a deeper, more well-rounded variety of Dying Embrace’s music as compared to the sheer gloom of the Misanthrope EP.
The ‘Serenades Of Depravity’ mini-album comes next, and takes us back to the raw, guttural sound but the classic doom elements reminiscent of early Sabbath and Vitus ensure that it goes down as the best segment of the album, certainly having the strength to impress fans of doom as well as death metal.
The album comes to an end with the Dying Embrace demo, which is the same track-listing as the Grotesque tape EP, but in CD format. It’s definitely an interesting variation and I’m glad to see it being included in the album, so that the listeners get a taste of both formats of the exact same music. The killer cover artwork and excellent photo-plus-lyric booklet accompanying the music makes ‘Era Of Tribulation’ a complete package that gives buyers their money’s worth and then some.
Overall, listening to this album is quite a unique experience, and it successfully takes you through the band’s music in all its appropriate formats. When viewed as a 14-track album, it’s unrelentingly dark, grim and down-beat, and because of the bare-bones, organic production values, this is a release that should carry the warning ‘Not For The Faint Of Heart’. With ‘Era Of Tribulation’, Dying Embrace have proven that their music holds fort not only amongst Indian metal bands, but far beyond as well.
Rating: 9/10
Related: In-depth Interview With Dying Embrace Vocalist Vikram Bhat
Record Label: Armée De La Mort
Release Date: February 10th 2013 (available at TrendSlaughter Fest)
Track Listing:
Misanthrope:
1. Blood Rites
2. Cromlech Of Hate
Grotesque:
3. The Passing Away
4. Grotesque Entity
5. Oremus Diabolum
Serenades Of Depravity:
6. As Eternity Fades
7. Spawn Of The Depths
8. Dagda – His Time Has Come
9. D.T’s (Instrumental)
10.Degeneration
11.Elegy For The Damned (Outro)
Dying Embrace:
12.The Passing Away
13.Grotesque Entity
14.Oremus Diabolum
Links:
Dying Embrace Facebook Page
Legion Of Death/Armée De La Mort Records Website