AN NCS PREMIERE: LEATHER GLOVE — “REFLECTIONS OF DESPAIR”

 

Expectations for Perpetual Animation, the debut album by Leather Glove (which will be released on March 8 by Sentient Ruin and Dawnbreed Records), have run very high in these quarters, based on nothing more than the descriptions of the people involved in its creation, and of the musical conceptions manifested through its eight tracks.

As for the people, Leather Glove is principally the musical vehicle of Greg Wilkinson, owner of the famed Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA, known for his engineering work with such bands as Noothgrush, Necrot, Autopsy, Vastum, Acephalix, Mortuous, Undergang, and many, many others; a member of Brainoil, and Deathgrave; and a former member of Laudanum and Graves at Sea.

For this new album, he was aided aided by drummers Chad Gailey (Necrot, Vastum, Mortuous, Atrament, etc) and Dustin Ferris (Apraxic, Pleasure Cross, Engorged, etc), with guest guitar solos performed by Sean McGrath (Ghoul, Impaled), Shelby Lermo (Vastum, Ulthar, Extremity), Eric Cutler (Autopsy), and Danny Corrales (Autopsy, Abcess).

 

 

And as for the music, it is described in the labels’ press sheets as “standing somewhere between the caveman tank-like death metal approach of Coffins and Undergang, and the hallucinogenic sonic derailment of bands like Swans and Zeni Geva, “smashing together death metal, D beat, crust, sludge, doom, and industrial noise to summon a low end monster of deranged experimentalism and of unspeakable heaviness”.

Is it any wonder that expectations have run so high?

And it turns out, not surprisingly, that the music lives up to such lofty anticipations. Today we’ve got one sure sign of how good the album is through our stream of the opening track, “Reflections of Despair“.

 

It’s remarkable how much the song achieves in the space of less than four minutes, operating on multiple levels and producing an array of emotional impacts. And of course, the song’s intrigue is magnified by the fact that it was created by someone who is so skilled and experienced in the production of heavy, extreme music, but this time completely free to create his own visions.

“Reflections of Despair” is capable of laying you low beneath the weight of its immense destructive power, destabilizing your mental equilibrium in the intensity of its mind-spearing melodies, and sending your imagination aloft in a blaze toward a shattering sky. It floods the senses with titanic abrading riffs that scour and stomp, pierced through by searing leads and waves of feverish, gleaming magnificence, and driven forward by cataclysmic drum blows that detonate like bombs, and erupt in extravagant bursts of obliterating fury.

Capped by the brain-shivering force of Wilkinson’s abyssal roaring voice, the song becomes a portrayal of terrible catastrophe and frightening, delirious grandeur.

 

Perpetual Animation will be released on March 8th by Sentient Ruin Laboratories in LP and cassette tape editions in the U.S., and by Dawnbreed Records on vinyl in Europe. Digital downloads are included with the physical editions.

All songs were composed, produced, tracked, mixed, and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios. The cover art was created by Max Rain. Check the links below for pre-order details.

PRE-ORDER:
LP / cassette tape: http://sentientruin.com/releases/leather-glove-perpetual-animation
Digital: https://leatherglove.bandcamp.com/album/perpetual-animation
Dawnbreed Records EU preorder: https://www.dawnbreed.com