By Gruesome Greg
I’ve been a fan of Purple Rhinestone Eagle for a while, ever since I saw ‘em here in Toronto a few years back. So when I heard their drummer was doing something with that chick from Dark Castle, I figured I’d give it a listen. This concept(?) album, consisting of a pair of 13+ minute-long tracks, takes the listener on a droney journey that isn’t entirely unpalatable.
Though it takes a little while to get going, “Life Part I” delivers the doom and gloom through some slow, monotonous riffing, sparse, spaced-out vocal passages and some surprisingly clean tones. A touch of (earlier) OM with a sprinkle of Neurosis, a bit of Sunn O))) and a dash of painfully-slow funeral doom—just don’t expect too many time changes here. This band only knows two speeds: slow and slower.
A voiceover stating “We don’t see much difference between time and space” acts as a transition into “Life Part II,” gradually distorting and fading out beneath what almost sounds like a distorted church organ (though I think it’s just a heavily-overdriven guitar). This song devolves into a low rumbling wall of feedback, to be dissected by a rough-hewn vocal. The drawn-out space chants are eventually joined by a guitar passage that skirts the line between Neurosis and Nadja, the swirling song structure meandering along for several minutes more.
Not a bad first impression from these ladies—and this is coming from someone who generally detests drone.
(Self released)
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