Loss - Horizonless

Angry Metal Guy

It’s been said that “when the gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers.” I first came upon Loss and their brand of unrelenting funeral death-doom back in 2011 when Steel matched wits against the almighty Despond. Prior to this, I’d never been exposed to anything that sounded so grudgingly drawn out or so full of crushing personal failure. It mesmerized me! Not the funeral doom genre itself, but rather the arresting approach specifically promulgated by Loss. It’s been six years since Despond, and lo and behold, Loss are gifting us with a new experience aptly titled Horizonless. Though part of me prayed for a new album by the Tennessee band, a bigger part secretly hoped I’d never hear from them again. After all, what were the chances they wouldn’t become victims of the infamous sophomore slump? My prayers were answered, and after some cajoling, I gave Horizonless a listen. One part Lycus, two parts Mournful Congregation, and a dash of 40 Watt Sun (née Warning) – is Loss the hero of their own beautiful tragedy?

Continuing on from where Despond left off, Horizonless comes apart with “The Joy of All Who Sorrow.” Pounding, isolated drum-work decisively makes way for some of the most overwhelmingly tortured vocalizations I’ve yet experienced from Loss. Doing away with the expected predominance of Michael Meacham’s guttural growls, Loss instead releases John Anderson, Tim Lewis and Jay LeMaire who take regret and suffering to a dynamic new level. From the monologue fighting the bass thrum around a third in, to the gurgling black metal inspired evil spewed out in the final third of the track, Loss feel re-energized and their harmonies are as excruciating as the lyrics conveyed. This vocal variety continues on throughout the album, with the most noticeable high-points being the cleans supplied by Tim Lewis in the title track followed by the guest vocals of Wrest (Leviathan), Stevie Floyd and Billy Anderson (sound engineer and producer for everybody from Agalloch to Pallbearer) on “When Death Is All.”

Horizonless by LOSS

As with Despond, Horizonless features a variety of song lengths that work hand-in-hand to make an otherwise overwhelming album seem somehow more palatable. “I.O” and “Moved Beyond Murder,” are the shortest tracks here, and though they could easily be throwaways if used within another project, on Horizonless each has a specific and contrasting role. Dominating “I.O” are the soprano pickings of a mandolin, cutting through oppression with it’s femininity, Jay LeMaire charms the instrument, coaxing out a sense of spontaneity, vulnerability and radiance that would be tough to replicate with a more traditional instrument. “Moved Beyond Murder” takes the opposite path – here Michael Meacham uses an analogue synthesizer, bell and chants in much the same way as Caïna would, conveying focus and a chilling lack of emotion. Meacham’s unrelenting sincerity only serves to leave lines like “oh what I wouldn’t give to drag a knife across your throat” buried like a blade deep into your subconscious.

The remainder of Horizonless, drags along mostly at a glacial pace, with Loss‘ core influences (Mournful Congregation and Warning) at heart, and a steady eye on avoiding stagnation. Cavernous growls, dense fuzzed-out riffing and exaggerated drum lines are the nuts and bolts of Loss. The moments that really ended up staying with me, and having the biggest impact, are where Loss bend the rules – tactfully injecting the melody of In Mourning, sinking into the doldrums occupied by Eudaimony and Deadspace (“Naught”), or picking apart the resonance of Ulver (“When Death Is All”).

Horizonless proved itself a multi-dimensional construct, showcasing a unique blend of melodic harmony, bleak contrast and grinding torment, and from a sonic standpoint, Billy Anderson worked the production to play to each one of the band’s strengths. This album leaves you feeling that Horizonless finds Loss more at home in their own skin, and other than perhaps rethinking the overwhelming 65-minute length of the album, there’s nothing I would encourage Loss to change or approach differently.

Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Profound Lore Records
Websites: Loss.bandcamp.com | lossdoom.blogspot.com | facebook.com/lossdoom
Releases Worldwide: May 19th, 2017

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Pitchfork 80

Judas Priests’ 1978 take of “Better by You, Better Than Me” landed them in court on allegations that it caused two young men to shoot themselves. But the album it came from, Stained Class, also had “Beyond the Realms of Death”—a song that actually dealt with suicide. There, death was a cosmic journey, as Rob Halford, a jaded but wise psychedelic sage, guided us through a process of mental anguish and eventual peace. Nashville’s Loss don’t sound anything like Priest, but they similarly dedicate their music to death’s journey and the ways suicide occupies our brains—in a way no other metal band has since “Realms.”

Loss are on the bleaker end of funeral doom, already the most grief-stricken form of doom metal with nearly nonexistent tempos and depressing lyrics. Few bands have recorded songs that defined their own aesthetic as well as Loss did with “Cut Up, Depressed, and Alone,” from their 2011 debut LP Despond. On their follow-up, Horizonless, Loss move beyond suicide (though it’s still a prominent theme) and broaden not only their approach to discussing death but their sound in general. The result is one of the year’s most beautiful metal records.

Across Horizonless, Loss distinguish themselves from other funeral doom bands by cutting back on gothic trappings, leaving a death metal husk to fill with despair. There is an emphasis on the sublime that Despond lacked. A brief moment of radiance opens “All Grows on Tears,” and when vocalist and guitarist Mike Meacham comes slamming in, the riff grows to superhuman strength, growing brighter amid the overwhelming darkness. That is just one of the many flourishes in Loss’ most moving song yet.

They’ve taken the bleak harmonies of melodic death metal bands—in particular, the Maiden-gone-gloom of early At the Gates and Dissection’s more black metal side—and brought them to their absolute slowest. Those particular influences are all over Horizonless. As “When Death Is All” concludes, a lead spirals towards the end, withering without losing poignancy. Horizonless is a record that romanticizes death, where thorns are petals, and it couldn’t have ended more appropriately.

Meacham is still the main presence on this record, and his subterranean growling itself seems to move in and out of life and death. His voice has a gravity that plunges riffs lower, no matter how drenched in melody they may be. Even so, Horizonless is a more collaborative album. Bassist John Anderson contributes piano to “Naught,” and he is also the sole performer on “The End Steps Forth,” a short piano, organ, and drum piece that deconstructs the gothic doom of My Dying Bride. In both, he brings the band closer to funeral doom’s more conventional archaic beauty while abstracting it. Guitarist Tim Lewis wrote and performed “Banishment,” Loss’ most death metal-leaning track yet. “The Joy of All Who Sorrow” is the first Loss song to feature vocals from all four of its members. Funeral doom is characterized by its lethargic pace; in that context, “Sorrow” has bountiful dynamics. It feels much faster than it actually is, with progressive death metal stylings chained to their doom anchor.

Horizonless is a study of how great modern metal records have all gone beyond genre exercises. Metal’s various styles have long been codified, and strident worship is now rarely enough of a statement. Despond contained songs from Loss’ demo and previous splits, but the band began anew with Horizonless, and it shows. If most doom is death closing in, this is opening a coffin and conversing with death head on. There’s an openness to Horizonless—even as Meacham sings about wanting the earth to consume him, about not just facing death but becoming it, about how death robs us. Through it all, Horizonless evokes metal’s most important message: in confronting death, we are freer in life.