Thought Trials Premiere Elevating New Post-Rock/ Doomgaze Track — Listen Here!

Thought Trials — a Buffalo, New York-based post-rock/ doomgaze project from multi-instrumentalist Josh Martin — will have its debut full-length album (called Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing) emerging on February 15.

In the meantime, check out “Guilt and Shame” — a sky-scraping new single from the project — below!

The swirling, captivating song moves through waves of formidable yet pensive post-rock. It seems to glimmer with emotionally propulsive energy, but it generally remains relatively contemplative, rather than suddenly becoming something blinding.

Things appear firmly constructed, and the tones have somewhat of a jarring element to them, but the song evokes the sort of open-ended urgency that would come with the emotional states referenced in the title. There’s a sense of an internal push forward — a searing, quietly soul-tearing demand for some kind of definitive relief that won’t come. The past can’t be changed, so we’re left with this enveloping, subtly upending inward energy that feels like it has nowhere to go… but forward, really. That’s how this song seems to proceed.

The track could be perceived as both pushing listeners into their own journeys of self-examination and depicting an experience of already being there, when the weights of internal feelings of tension have become so immense that they seem to block out just about anything else. It’s like slowly succumbing to raging fires of turmoil that have been wrought by gazing into the past and what might have been.

The draw of such a thing can be intense — and, accordingly, “Guilt and Shame” kicks into some blackgaze-like ferocity for a comparatively brief jaunt near the end. Overall, the track comes across as steady — and steeped in forlorn longing — to the point that, in a couple moments when big crescendos might be expected to emerge, Martin instead sticks to a subtler presentation (until that exhilarating conclusion).

Ultimately, the track also feels perhaps surprisingly catchy, which isn’t always the case with something so atmosphere-oriented. You might find yourself humming the tune after listening — there’s a real impression here that Martin has essentially pared away all of the frills, leaving a powerful foundation.

Keep in touch with Thought Trials on Bandcamp at this link.

Check out the song below! (If there’s an issue with displaying the track, please refresh the page and/ or wait a moment.)