ninehertz

I came across this, ushered in by the cool artwork, on an until now unknown to me UK label called Sokol Keep, who utterly intrigue me with its bio lie "an adherent of the original 90’s dungeon school" - for someone who only really knew of "dungeon" from relatively recent dungeon synth and labels like Grime Stone, to find there are eras and schools is something I find fascinating (even if I'm not particularly into it) and have to dig into that back story further.

For now, let me talk Chainsaw, because whilst this is only two tracks (totalling 26 minutes, mind), it has made an instant impression. It's a bit lo-fi in its recording, but that just adds to the charm. It is immediately obvious that if this is of a dungeon school, that that descriptor is more than I thought, as Chainsaw are not what I expecting. They are practically doom-gaze, as abhorrent as some may find that term - perhaps dungeon doom is an acceptable equivalence? - downbeat but completely chilled with it.

They have me thinking towards two bands I completely love - Bristol's Throth, for one, and the gloomy wistful smiles of Uncle Woe too. This alone is promising. There's something totally warming about this - despite being inward facing, introspective fuzz-laden doom it somehow provides a glow. I lap up the first track, Destroyer, not wanting it to end despite passing eighteen minutes before its end. Ancient Eye, side B of the sadly sold out cassette, has something in the guitar which induces an emotional twang. It's uncanny, and I'm totally into this. The unforced vocals are a real asset, a compliment to the music, the way it should be; only the last minute is the closest thing the whole release gets to my dungeon expectations.

If this is dungeon, where are the synths, where's the Castlevania aesthetic (okay, maybe in the artwork, but in the music itself), where's the medieval black metal parody? Is this an outlier for the label and I'm barking up the wrong tree? Is this dungeon doom, a sub-strain I need to educate myself on fast? And is there a whole history to this thing both unknown to me and which'll be more to my liking? Well... that's for the future. For now, I really got this, an instant affinity to Chainsaw. Despite being sat outside in an unseasonably hot Yorkshire May-time sun when I first heard it, the morose overtones really clicked and I was transported with it.