Coltsblood And Un’s Menacing New Doom Metal Split Quickly Proves An Inescapable Experience

Coltsblood and Un deliver menacing and utterly miserable sonically cavernous metal on their February 15 split. Both bands contribute a single track that clocks in at over twenty minutes, making this two-track EP longer than many “full-length” records with many more songs and underscoring just what a monster of an experience this release packs. The tracks portray destructive misery in perhaps close to its rawest form, forging ahead with that breaking point long in the rearview mirror and only down…. down…. down to go, whether you’re ready or not — and truthfully, you’re probably not prepared for the musical depths to which these two bands take listeners on this release. “Normal” humanity — however you might take that concept — has been roundly kicked aside in favor the tidal waves of crushing defeat that fall upon the listener. There is no happy ending here — only “Every Fear Illuminated,” as Un’s contribution is called.

The music has a space for more than you might think. Rather than zeroing in on a particular strain of heartache, the music feels like its sheer magnitude and sprawling nature gives one the opportunity to feel the weight of not just their present, but their past and even prospective future too. Thanks to the music’s lengthy presentation within the confines of the record itself — which the bands make full use of via building the listener up only to musically knock them down over and over and over — time’s progression casts a large shadow over the release. The Un/Coltsblood split offers the results of a pinprick of the sheer pain left by the passage of time, some of which flies by unnoticed while we make our way through our lives despite our neverending march to our own eventual demise.

Both bands clearly fully embrace their modus operandi, allowing for that much more of an immediately memorable experience for the listener. It’s not so much that one might want the grinding pain contained on this record, but rather, one might be more prone to need it because they have no other place to go because they’re so far in over their capabilities — a place it’s not as hard to get to as you might think.

5/5 Stars

Listen to some previously released Un material below via Bandcamp — and preorder their new split.

Un have a track premiere off the split at Decibel Magazine.