Review Summary: One of the most frantic and chaotic albums you will hear this year.
Those who were fortunate enough to listen to 2010's
How Hate Is Hard to Define were treated to an absolutely chaotic and unrelenting experience. It was a dense album that surprisingly wasn't immediate as one would expect. Taking multiple listens to sift through the noise and dissonance, ultimately to find a band that are on top of the game when it comes to any kind of chaotic hardcore. Adding a dab of black metal influence only made their sound more harsh and unassessable. It was an uncompromising beast of an album that took no prisoners. It was hardcore at its most extreme, and overall a fantastic album.
Fast forward 4 years and
Lowgazers is the same fare. Plebeian Grandstand hasn't softened up a little bit as apparent from the start as "Thrvst" goes straight for the jugular. The rest of the album follow suit, every song is crazy and seems to be
this close to absolutely losing it, making for an enthralling listen. As uncompromising as it is, they still make room for slower section, including ambient ones, (most notably on "Relief of Troth") that really help break the album apart. The faster, crazier sections seem that much faster and crazy when they are juxtaposed against a slow, or ambient part of a song. This does a great job at never making the album grow stale, or completely engulfing the listener when going through it.
It's a dense album that will surely take multiple listens to really appreciate
Lowgazers, but is a rewarding one.
Lowgazers takes the cake of being the most dense of the two, in no way is this a bad thing. It ends of being better overall because of it. The only obvious downfall is how quiet the vocalist is compared to the band. He tends to get drowned out by the rest of the band at times and he should have been put a little higher in the mix. This is a minor gripe as he is still as absolutely furious as ever. If the idea of a blackened, grimier, and more chaotic Converge excites you, and seems like a good time check this out. You won't be let down.
