SEAGRAVE "Stabwound" Digi CD

Although a very new name, formed in 2014, SEAGRAVE is actually the solo-project of Harakiri for the Sky's J.J., whose band released the critically acclaimed Aokigahara last year via ART OF PROPAGANDA. Here with Stabwound, J.J. in SEAGRAVE seeks to meld shoegazing black metal, melodic post-hardcore, and D-beat death metal...and does so, with dazzling results. From blistering beginning to mournful end, Stabwound winds its way through a kaleidoscopic, sometimes-caustic array of colors, each song a patiently unfolding epic that uniquely spans a wide swath of sonic territory. Some will point to this sound as being rather nouveau, but J.J.'s roots in black metal stretch back to the mid-2000s with Hoffnungstod and then the subsequent Karg; thus, his integration of black metal tropes into other, seemingly disparate musical bedfellows is both authentic and daring. What results is a record that strives for catharsis, by any musical means necessary - after all, its central lyrical themes are the downsides of life like estrangement, broken relationships, depression, and drug abuse - and explodes with emotive, genuinely heart-wrenching violence. Healing from Stabwound will not be an easy process.