Underground Greats: Conjurer
If, for some masochistic reason, you decide to try giving yourself nightmares, leave the cheese in the fridge and keep that copy of The Human Centipede in digital limbo on Netflix. Instead, give Conjurer a shot just before bedtime.
Either it’ll do the trick, or you’ll wind up with acute insomnia – and the resulting sleep deprivation will be bad enough.
Of course, if you’re an unquenchable Between The Buried And Me fiend, spending an extended period of time immersed in Conjurer’s corroded post-sludge – punctuated as it often is with BTBAM-evoking chords and harmonies – will have the opposite effect. This is the metal equivalent of accidentally sipping from a cup of extremely strong coffee that’s been left out overnight, and realising that you actually quite like it.
Heavy on the subterranean downtuning, doomy-then-thrashy tempo shifts, and infected-haemorrhoid-sufferer screams, tracks like The Mire and Retch see Conjurer carve themselves a cavernous space of their own – and then fill it with filth:
Mastodon, Gojira, and Opeth comparisons have already been made in Conjurer-related press releases. They’re justified not only sonically, but also in terms of Conjurer’s potential for future visibility and growth. This may be uncompromising music, but who knows what the future holds?
As tracks like Hollow and Of Flesh Weaker Than Ash demonstrate, these guys aren’t afraid to employ low-key dynamic shifts – and Thankless contains some very tasty basslines. Hadal grooves like a motherfucker – as did much of Conjurer’s 2016 EP I, which shares its title with a certain Meshuggah track:
Conjurer’s next move is guaranteed to represent another step up – and possibly another stylistic direction change. From here they could go almost anywhere, and no extreme metal fan in their right mind would complain.
Check out Mire’s official audio stream from Holy Roar Records below, and follow me on Twitter to discover even more underground greats!
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