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Iii

Dunbarrow

Iii

Label: Blues For The Red Sun

Genre: Stoner / Post Metal / Industrial Rock

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  • LP €27.99
    Out of Stock
Every Dunbarrow album has a hauntingly classic sound of, in the band’s own words, “an eerie rawness.” But their third album feels like you’ve discovered a mysterious half-century old recording tucked away in a decrepit abandoned mansion. Perhaps there’s a note attached, begging its courier to beware. Alas, whoever possessed the tape apparently never survived....that is to say, it feels like there’s a solemn story to this album, not just in the lyrics, but in the sound itself. Much like the eponymous debut of Black Sabbath, the band uses subtle sound effects to dramatically set the scene for its mostly clean tones and masterful use of open space for which the band has become known. But unlike their first two albums, this one does see the band branching out just a bit into heavier, more distorted guitars. The result is a much more in-your-face sound, while retaining the Haugesund, Norway quintet’s masterful proto-metal sound. The album opens with the sound of falling rain as Lønning and Eirik Øvregård’s guitars seep into the speakers like funereal bells and haunted drones on “Death That Never Dies.” Drummer Pål Gunnar Dale slams down three snare beats as bassist Sondre Berge Engedal slinks in harmony over it all. Andersen’s crisp vocals paint a bleak picture of dark perdition until the band slips into a swaggering piano-led coda reminiscent of “Sabbra Cadabra.” The 7-minute psychedelic folk masterpiece “Turn In Your Grave” is the album centerpiece, replete with mournfully shimmering Mellotron and bleak folkloric lyrics. Its hypnotically spinning guitar notes and old European parlando-rubato singing hearken to dark early Steeleye Span with a sinister edge. “In My Heart” perfectly showcases the band’s penchant for folk based, yet head-banging riffs that break with tradition that has stilted modern heavy music. “I think with this record, we have managed to create our own unique sound with its own Dunbarrow tag,” says the band. With that sound comes the perfect artwork: A cover illustration from the early 1900’s by artist Harry Clarke from his work for Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination.