OneMetal.com music REVIEW:
Indian – Guiltless

Be warned: the latest Indian release is capable of stirring up the strangest emotional responses. This is probably the only review the band will ever receive reporting that they very nearly reduced a writer to tears. Call it a naturally soft heart, call it that flood of memories that certain songs can trigger, call it listening to the album during a particularly emotional one-week-in-four, but the desolate howl that follows the insistent wail of “only the dead can love” during ‘The Fate Before Fate’ stuck a foot-long icepick into my guts. The relentless zombie-walk chugs of ‘Benality’ and ‘Guiltless’ also managed to reach into my deep subconscious, find my long-dormant inner child and terrify the living shite out of it. Make no mistake, this is a very uncomfortable listen and one would imagine that attempting to listen in the dark would trigger a violent panic attack.

But enough of the hyperbole. This is the third full-length release by Chicago four-piece Indian, and their first contribution to Relapse Records’ impressive roster. Their brand of noise is a particularly apocalyptic blend of sludge, doom and drone which manages to sound uncontainably angry and extremely moving at the same time. ‘No Grace’ charges in at a fair old tempo with teeth and claws bared, sounding as far from its later misery as possible. But then roughly 2 minutes in, the pace slows dramatically, pulling a filthy cloak over itself and crawling towards another increase in speed and the final, almost Cult of Luna-esque finale with the sinister tenacity of the spider you thought you’d squashed flat with the phone book but is still limping across your kitchen.

Second track ‘The Fate Before Fate’ doesn’t so much introduce you to the band’s very prominent black metal influence as drag you screaming into it, the despondent guitars of Dylan O’Toole and Will Lindsay (formerly of Wolves In The Throne Room and currently of Nachmystium) the perfect monotone background to their tortured shrieks. It lends a welcome new dimension to the music and the resultant atmosphere elevates it into something far more interesting.

Unless your diet is exclusively extreme doom or drone, you’ll find this extremely hard to listen to in its entirety; during the first few listens it took to get a feel of the album before starting this review, I frequently had to skip tracks prematurely and occasionally switch to something else before I dissolved into a sobbing ball. It’s a near-relentless slog through 7 tracks of probably the most miserable, terrifying music you’ll hear this year and you do need to invest some serious time and concentration to truly appreciate it.

But just when you feel that it’s all getting too much, a curveball is thrown in the form of melancholy instrumental ‘Supplicants’. It’s such a diversion from the rest of the album that you’d be forgiven for checking your iPod/computer/MP3 gadget to be sure that it was the same band, but it still maintains a sinister edge that doesn’t throw you completely. It soon passes, though, into nine-minute closer and absolute album highlight ‘Benality’; a majestically bleak finale that chugs hypnotically amid unfettered screams and disquieting drone noise courtesy of Sean Patton (whose contribution is incidentally credited among the band ranks simply as ‘noise’). Almost imperceptibly, the track trudges ever slower through the consciousness for what seems an age before stopping abruptly when you feel the noise is becoming unbearable. And if it’s had the effect it had on your intrepid reporter, you should be left short of breath, ears buzzing slightly, and feeling wrung out and bewildered like you’ve woken up naked in the middle of nowhere.

It goes without saying that you won’t be able to pit to Guiltless, you couldn’t dance to it, and you certainly wouldn’t want it playing at a party (unless your parties involve illegal substances and the promise of a nervous breakdown at the end). But stick with it, I beseech you, if you can listen long and hard enough you’ll find it’s one of those albums where you’ll find little nuggets of genius – a lyric here, a chord progression there – and you’ll keep returning to it just to find those moments again. It’s a tough but very rewarding listen indeed.

Indian’s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/indiandoom
Relapse Records’ Website: http://www.relapse.com

Bottom Line

A truly uneasy listen that will drag you into the abyss and spit you out of the other side shaking, confused and very much an Indian fan. Brave it to the end and you'll be rewarded. Absolutely fantastic.