No Funeral / Livid – Split LP (Live Fast Die Recordings, 15 August 2017)

Where the hell did October go? Or September, or fall, or most of this goddamn year? What’s even happening anymore?

I don’t know. But I do know this: I’m quite literally drowning in excellent music over here, that I need to share with you people. And there’s just never enough time — but I’m not here to whine or make excuses, I’m here to get something published that I’ve been wanting to tell you about for a while. This is gonna be a short one, but that’s better than nothing, right? Right?

Anyway, check out this split LP featuring a pair of Minneapolitan bands, Livid (whose Prosthetic Records debut Beneath this Shroud, the Earth Erodes, which we discussed here, came out just about a month earlier) and No Funeral (who just got back home yesterday from a tour of the east coast, and who also happen to run the label responsible for releasing this split) …

 

On the first side of the split, No Funeral offer up a pair of tracks that run more than nineteen minutes in total. Filled with very slow, drawn-out, and VERY heavy riffs — this wouldn’t quite qualify as funeral doom (natch) but certainly could be described as funereal. The shorter of the two songs at “only” eight-and-a-half minutes, “Infection” (Hear the tolling of the bells, iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!) eventually supplements the deathly slothful riffs with vocals, in sort of a dryer version of a Lord Mantis style rasp-snarl; in contrast, the agonizing “Disease Brought by Depression” which clocks in at nearly eleven minutes, features a distinctly more grunty, almost death-metally style.

 

On the flip side, Livid have turned in just one song, but one that nearly equals the other two in length. “False Hope,” also very slow, seems faraway-sounding in an almost wistful way. The vocals here, like on their earlier full-length, again come across like a peculiar hybrid between Pallbearer and Conan (and in particular, they remind me of one of my favorite cuts from that album, “Nothing”). About two-thirds of the way through, the track slows down even more, feeling even more somber and grave for the remainder of its duration.

If you’re in the mood for a record as dismal and dreary as the November weather outside (still can’t believe it’s already November!) you can find it in mp3 format right here, or pick up the LP version through Bandcamp (see below).
 

* * * * * * *

http://www.facebook.com/nofuneralmpls
http://nofuneralmpls.bandcamp.com
 
http://www.facebook.com/lividirate
http://lividmpls.bandcamp.com
 
http://www.livefastdierecs.bandcamp.com