Night Hag – Great Dismal Darkness (Uliginous Death Sludge Doom)
I was really frikken pissed this week bros, swear to God. The number of promos I went through was astounding. I lost goddamn count. From the overly theatrical to the deathly average, to, even worse, the pretentious pseudo-terror punk that you know can’t back up its talk… All of it lacking, all of it worthy of mere deletion and a clearing of my memories. So when I went into the latest full-length by Virginia Beach’s Night Hag I was so damn pissed from what I witnessed I was certain nothing could please me. But, clearly, please they did, with their particular blend of overly muffled death metal and uliginous sludge. I don’t think there are any swamps in Virginia Beach but they probably created one after this shit (and filled it with lore).
I joke, and Night Hag does not. Great Dismal Darkness is the absolute perfect combination of several components. Musically, I think you get the point from the above, but what is of particular interest to me are the themes and presentation. Music is great, check, but that’s not all to a great release. This album is dripping with leeches in mud and with titles such as “Strange Whispers from Beneath the Cypress;” it weaves tales that would make the darkest spaces of the Old World jealous. One gets a sense of a greater understanding of the importance of the overall package in this kind of music, and Night Hag has pressed upon the heads of the weak souls who attempt to craft music of this caliber, raising themselves above the dismal, fetid swamp they create like a glint of ignis fatuus in place of eyes. Beware.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Night Hag – Great Dismal Darkness
Rotted Life Records
Cover Art: Form Terror Growth (Fred Grabosky)
4.8 / 5
