ITP REVIEW: HALLOWED BUTCHERY: FUNERAL RITES FOR THE LIVING

BAND: HALLOWED BUTCHERY (MAINE, USA) GENRE: AVANT/DOOM, INDUSTRIAL/DEATH DOOM LABEL: VENDETTA RECORDS RELEASE DATE (S) :9 /? / 09 (Release Date NA-release OUT NOW!)
PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG): FUNERAL RITES FOR THE LIVING (EP-2009-VENDETTA RECORDS, EMPYREAL RECORDS), BEST OF COMPILATION ( AS: HALLOWED BUTCHERY OF THE SON-UNSIGNED-2007), PURE ELECTRO SCUM (DEMO-2006)
BEST RELEASE: FUNERAL RITES FOR THE LIVING (2009)
TRACKLISTING: HALLOWED BUTCHERY: FUNERAL RITES FOR THE LIVING:
1. A Wake for the Human Race
2. Pantheon Enthroned
3. Great North Woods
4. Back Asswards
5. Kingdom (Within You)
6. The Kennebec
7. Abolish the Pulpit
8. The Kennebec (Reprise)
9. After the Gold Rush (Neil Young cover)

ITP RATING: ***

PRODUCTION: ****

SONGWRITING: ***

PERFORMANCE: ***
A few genres of music are notorious for one person projects: Industrial, black metal, occasionally grind and death metal, and of course DOOM. Not to say there aren't bands in these genres, or if popular enough, said projects don't blossom into such. Ironic that some of the most interesting music would come from one person projects.
Ryan Scott Fairfield of Maine, USA based avant doom project HALLOWED BUTCHERY is making waves with his label debut "Funeral Rites For The Living". HALLOWED BUTCHERY
started out as a blackened grind/core project (HALLOWED BUTCHERY OF THE SON) and have since added experimental flourishes of folk and industrial, amalgamating into a doom project.
Sounds like a lofty ambition however it is never easy, even in the spirit of avant garde to cohesively meld all into a masterpiece of art.
HALLOWED BUTCHERY's "Funeral Rites For The Living" kicks off with the track entitled
"A Wake For The Human Race"a statement of intent with brutal death vox, plodding, brutal, and slow like a snail chord progressions, and a minimal orchestral atmosphere.. There is evidence of industrial influences, as every chord played sounds like lighting and thunder. However, "A Wake For The Human Race" looses it's "brutal as fuck" luster when Fairfield's vocals trail off into clean screams and spoken word as the thunder of doom metal, dries up before the tracks end.
"Pantheon Enthroned", creeps up with a pompous, Sabbath like riff, intense with an industrial drawl and Fairfield's vocals low in the mix. At 1:37 "Pantheon Enthroned" takes a dip into an
acoustic folk/Native American psychedelic atmosphere and picks up with some brutal, sick doom, ending with some blissful psychedelic folk. Fade out.. :Scratches Head: Odd indeed.
"Great North Woods" kicks off as sludge/industrial rock with a well produced, thick sound, splintering off into folk rock..Um..
"Back Asswards" enters with an ominous intro and some brutal funeral doom, with good death vox and backround screams, as THIS is what Satanic doom should sound like, in a short sensibility, specifically if well amalgamated with dark, industrial influences. "If Satan can get you to kill for him, that would be the icing on the cake".
"Kingdom (Within You)" enters with an melancholic tribal folk vibe, as I figured I wouldn't like nor get this tune, as it is indeed an instrumental sweeper to hopefully better tunes.
"The Kennebec" crawls in with a majestic funeral doom pace, brutal, with good death vocals, and lightly tinkered piano. "The Kennebec" invokes a shuddering almost drone like atmosphere as notes vibrate and literally shudder on for minutes. At 3:08 "The Kennebec" ups the ante from ambient spoken word to industrial goth rock, with keyboards and generic rock chords.
"Abolish the Pulpit" enters with a rather hilarious sample of a delusional evangelist. However, there is some interesting funeral doom, burgeoning UNDER the sample when in should be OVER the sample. At 2:37 "Abolish the Pulpit" invoke some intense, psychedelic ambient, SICK funeral doom and horrific black metal screams.
"The Kennebec (Reprise)" kicks of as shoegazer folk, perhaps HALLOWED BUTCHERY's take on DSBM, as the song invokes some sick industrial noise, and a melancholic acoustic ending.
HALLOWED BUTCHERY's "Funeral Rites for The Living" closes with a Neil Young cover
"After The Gold Rush", first with a psychedelic indie rock feel, then at 1:45 "After The Gold Rush" segues into brutal, majestic funeral doom and closes with where it began, indie/acoustic pop. LOL..
Ryan Scott Fairfield has an interesting musical vision on HALLOWED BUTCHERY's "Funeral Rites For The Living" melding industrial atmospheres with crushing funeral/ sludge doom, and indie folk pop....INCOHESIVELY..
Yeh, there are whole alot of bands doing that in black metal, and it's called DSBM. Mixing shoe gazer rock with black metal vox.
HALLOWED BUTCHERY incorporate so many different styles, such a noble ambition, with sparse and annoying results.
While in streaks, flourishes and flashes, HALLOWED BUTCHERY have some original, if not cheeky and warped ideas. However, the execution of HALLOWED BUTCHERY's ideas are incohesive, wanting desperately for the band to drop the indie folk charade and expand it's brutal funeral doom to cohesive songs and compositions.
However, Ryan Scott Fairfield has some awesome death, and screamed vocals, very convincing as Fairfield tackles lyrical themes such as environmentalism, Christian Evangelists. JAMES PLOTKIN has done a great job on the mastering for "Funeral Rites For the Living", amplifying some crushing riffs, and bleak, suffocating, industrial, ambient noise/drone dripping from HALLOWED BUTCHERY's arsenal.
Die hard funeral doom fanatics might want to lend an ear to HALLOWED BUTCHERY's "Funeral Rites For The Living" as the release experiments with polar opposites, brutal and warped atmospheres. I'm somewhat curious on what Ryan Scott Fairfield has to offer in the future.
However, HALLOWED BUTCHERY aint for eveyone.
Not to mention that URNA's latest release succeeds in a more organic sensibility.

ITP RATING: ***

PRODUCTION: ****

SONGWRITING: ***

PERFORMANCE: ***
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-