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Album Reviews : LLNN – Deads

By on May 1, 2018

Now on my 11th listen, I’m convinced that LLNN wrote Deads specifically and only for me. It’s perfect. It’s exactly what I want out of a metal album – higher pitched bellowing screams like Norma Jean, The Chariot or Dillinger? Check. Playing doom songs just a touch faster than usual so they maintain a perfect groove? Check. Melancholic riffs that sound more like they’re sung than played? Big ol’ check. Not a single blast beat, two-step or thrash section to ruin the jams? A thankful check and prayer of thanks to every god in the fucking cosmos.

LLNN are heavy. Apocalyptic. Their riffs are like avalanches; massive and expansive and pummeling, and all while being centered around a uniquely melodic sound, haunting and utilising more than the bottom three frets. And these songs are brilliantly written and arranged; I can’t remember the last time a song has made my jaw drop open and elicit a “holy fuck,” but LLNN managed it 30 seconds into their first track, and produced the same reaction at least another four times across the album. It’s fucked how good it is. Even this many listens in, tracks like Despots and Appeaser have me grinning like an idiot and occasionally chuckling at the sheer fucking audacity of a band releasing songs this massive.

Another big tick in a box on the Mitch List (ew), is that LLNN have crafted a full album, complete with soundscape “filler” songs, yet they do not put them in the way of the riffs, a la Old Man Gloom. It’s as wonderful as learning a new spreadsheet hotkey. You want to get to that hook you like for the 4th time in a row and annoy your flatmates? Just hit track 1 (or 5, or 6, or 8). You want to sit back and enjoy a thoughtful and dark album that shifts between confronting and isolating? Listen from start to finish and enjoy the cinematic instrumentals.

Another massive point to be made is their control of dynamics, which I think has more to do with the mix and master than the playing. Plenty of bands go from clean guitar and ride cymbals to “the heavy bit”, but more often than not it’s just a change in tones. LLNN gracefully navigate different frequencies, without just playing the quiet/LOUD game. When shit goes bananas it sounds impossibly full, bloated to the point of bursting, swelling from where once there was only space and introspection. It’s fucking glorious.

I can’t get enough of it. You might hate it; a doom-fan friend of mine said it was very “Mitch.” And it is. I haven’t had an album sound so close to perfect for me in years, and I’m probably going to burn out on repeated listens in the next week. If you’re a fan of huge, heavy riffs you can headbang in the car to (or work out to; it’s the perfect tempo) get on it and never get off. If you aren’t usually a fan, you should still give the tracks Despots, Deplete, Appeaser and Deads a shot. If you don’t like it I’ll Paypal you the cost of streaming the track.

Band: LLNN
Album: Deads
Year: 2018
Genre: Atmospheric Doom
Label: Pelagic Records / Nerve Gas (Australia)
Origin: Denmark

About

Mitch is a 26 year old vegan, socialist, atheist, utilitarian, reductionist metalhead, stand up comedian and philosophy major that hates labels. When he isn't being politely ignored at dinner parties he's being politely ignored on comedy nights around the country.