Ungraven is a celebration of the nastier side of heavy music, the dirty noise metal and industrial heaviness that is sorely under-represented in this scene, progressing forward to crushing drone laced with ambient eeriness. On their new record, Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks, Jon Davis (Conan) and David Perry (formerly of The Laez, Conan & Dead Void) launch a glacial barrage of heaviness, using synths, keys, organ, vocoder and guitar, conjuring images of social decline projected across imagined landscapes of a ruined future.
The record’s first single, “Nothing Is Less Than Zero”, which you can listen to bbelow this article, rips open a void between worlds, where dark cinematic soundscapes drip into a bleeding heaviness. Gone is the traditional metal framework of their previous records: instead, Davis and Perry conjure a sickening symphony of guitar and dronesque synth that carves universe-shaped holes through your skull. No beats. No lyrics but some messages issued by doomed robots. No mercy. The atmosphere itself speaks volumes as layers of sound gradually build the tension, diving deeper and heavier into synthesizer realms where restrained forces lurk beneath the surface. Like threatening vessels silently hovering overhead, it teeters on the brink of psychedelic spheres, a haunting progression culminating into nothing but nothingness. While we all knew Ungraven could unleash hell, “Nothing Is Less Than Zero” reveals something more profound: the ability to control it. The band comments, “Pillars of granite burst forth from the earth. Their looming presence forcing frozen awe upon all that stand beneath. Impenetrable shadows suffocate and disorientate, as the monoliths continue to plough endlessly into the infinite. Shrouded by black, forever turns into never, and we are overwhelmed and dizzied into nausea by the unimaginably colossal nature of Nothingness.”
Hollows Made Homes In Their Sunken Cheeks will be released April 18th via Heavy Psych Sounds. Pre-orders are now available here.
