Restive Plaggona - Silently Hopelessly LP

Whenever we cover our eyes at a horror movie only to peak between our fingers we answer our instinctual attraction to fear; we find ourselves attracted to things which arouse a primeval sense of dread within us.  Imposing and ominous, simultaneously thick with noise yet hollow and distant, Silently Hopelessly does exactly that. 

This new album from Thrènes Records by Restive Plaggona is rife with reverb, noise, and distortion, creating a decisively creepy effect.  Intimacy Is Violence opens Silently Hopelessly with a slow build.  Each individual sound is thick and rich, yet the overwhelming reverb of the sweeping strings and vocals make the song seem deceivingly empty, giving each hit from the noisy percussion an even bigger impact.  The sinister synth and apprehensive bass of Rote Zora punctuated by creeping percussion add to the dark mood of the album, building towards a breaking point but always pulling back just in time. The feeling of unease continues into Hunted By Those Nights, whose sharp, ricocheting hits and churning distortion deep below have the listener checking every dark corner. 

The first few bars of Take It Or Leave are a temporary relief, but this false sense of security is quickly upset by pounding drums with intense reverb and demonic vocal samples.  Similarly, Cut Off From Modern Society starts slow with a train-like beat but quickly builds to tonal chaos as slurred strings like sirens swell in the background.  Lovely Vale Of Tears returns to a more melodic form that evokes the doleful wail of a funeral march.  This foray into electro-dirge continues with “Always Guilty,” whose muffled vocals and echoing drums remind the listener of the trudge towards Judgement Day.  Deliciously dark, Sudden Burst Of Safety is no reprieve from the ominous mood of the rest of the album with its animalistic vocal samples and shifting sounds. In a return to the plaintive synths of Lovely Vale Of Tears, And We Were In Bed Together opens with wave-like sounds gently rising and falling, gradually becoming noisier and more distorted and driven forward by a buoyant guitar in triple meter.  The last track from Restive Plaggona, Alone In Faith And Death, ends the album with a bang.  The throbbing, syncopated drums are overlaid with distorted voices which reach a crescendo before quickly receding into the abyss from whence they came.  The Ancestral Voices Remix achieves the same primordial mood.  Noises and voices interject at random intervals, creating an air of spontaneity which keeps the listener constantly on their toes. 

Relish in the spine-tingling sounds of Silently Hopelessly by Restive Plaggona coming your way December 15th.