Album review: Full Of Hell – Garden Of Burning Apparitions
U.S. grinders Full Of Hell continue to break the mould on scalding fifth album, Garden Of Burning Apparitions.
Dylan Walker’s blood curdling scream rings out for 10 uninterrupted seconds before quickly giving way to pummelling riffs. It's a gnarly yet abrupt welcome into Garden Of Burning Apparitions. This explosive start serves as a warning for the rest of the album. While 2017's Trumpeting Ecstasy is considered Full Of Hell's seminal work, it was the follow-up, 2019's Weeping Choir, where they really began to experiment with their sound. Here, they combine the heaviness of the first with the innovativeness of the latter.
Full Of Hell are a busy bunch, involved in a multitude of other projects. Guitarist Spencer Hazard plays in sludge band Eye Flys, while Dylan regularly collaborates with The Body and Lingua Ignota. Drummer David Bland and bassist Sam DiGristine also have their own grindcore band named Jarhead Fertilizer. The creative freedom that these projects allow means that when they reunite to make a new record there’s plenty of influence to pull from and every release has benefitted from a collective desire to push boundaries and build upon an already established sound.
Garden Of Burning Apparitions is the ideal mixture of hardcore, noise, death metal and grind. Dylan’s vocals dictate much of the rhythm of every song, while the guitars bend and crunch to adapt; a catchy noise rock riff one minute, a hypnotic, feedback laden dirge the next. The inclusion of bass clarinet from multi-instrumentalist Shoshana Rosenberg adds an interesting twist, complemented by Sam’s saxophone.
Not content to stay in one place, Full Of Hell are a band that are ever evolving. This latest actualisation of their sound is just the beginning of an exciting new trajectory of musical exploration and experimentation.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Nails, Trap Them, Weekend Nachos
Garden Of Burning Apparitions is released on October 1 via Relapse