Echo Beds - Buried Language

Released through the same label to which Wreck & Reference is signed (The Flenser), Buried Language by Echo Beds experiments with a similar electronic heaviness and similarly intentionally genre-defying and rule-breaking feel that hooked me to Wreck & Reference. At just over 39 minutes, the album makes a for pretty interesting listen, and one that feels well-trimmed so as not to exhaust its welcome. Heavily distorted, but not always hyper-aggressive industrial electronics and drums cover most of the album while expressive black metal vocals and ominous hazy guitars provide probably the most concrete grounding in metal. For the most part, I like what the album has to offer in terms of sound, and its focus really is on its swirling together a variety of sounds into a cohesive atmosphere, and as a fan of Wreck & Reference, I like the way this album consistently captures the sinister aspect of the sound they cultivate. “Small Print” is one of the more scorching examples of the band using their depth of abrasive sonic elements to burn a unique hole via unconventional heaviness. The following track, “The Flaw Is in the Design”, uses a monolithic drone that reminds me of the horn the tripods made in the film adaptation of War of the Worlds, and it’s a good example of the band stretching their approach to greater lengths and using more structure, as is the unsettling “Access Control”, led by a sharp industrial siren sound that fits the anxious tone of the album with a suggestion of looming danger. Overall, I really like this album, and the more I listen to it, the more I find myself enveloped in its odd, but effective Avant Garde blackness. Like I said before, it focuses more on the aggressive, sinister aspects of what Wreck & Reference have cultivated, not really taking a step back into the reflective, meditative depression they often do. Rather, its consistency makes for a strong, cohesive experience, and I’m glad they took the approach they did.