To anyone who claims to know what true darkness is; what it’s like to be drained of all hope, drag your feet through life in utter despair, knowing the thoughts you posses will never allow you peace; before hearing this album, you truly don’t know shit. Sea of Bones‘ “The Earth Wants Us Dead” is the second full-length album from Connecticut’s unsigned, atmospheric sludge lords. With the majority of the album recorded/engineered at Mammoth Studios and the title track at InnerSpaceSoundLabs, the blend was as surprisingly harmonious as and chocolate and sea salt, though not separate albums, they could very well have been.

In ‘The Stone The Slave And The Architect,’ vocals are smeared in a cosmic blur, hung in dissonance to burdened atmospherics. “There will always be another one. They will always be wrong.” The weight bared by the scapegoat. Inevitable injustice to the slave; yet they are the ones who build the roads on which we walk, the homes in which we sleep, the objects we don’t need. An archetypal anomaly with which to identify though in our own gaping life holes.

‘Black Arm’ is one of my favourite tracks on ‘The Earth Wants Us Dead.’ Effortlessly pounding you down with heavily distorted riffs to roll out the bloody carpet, mangled in layers sludgy corrosion and drone’s constant hum, it rumbles, shaking you lifeless with ferocity and conviction. Lyrics break the atmospheric barrier with the power of a societal uprising; brought to the streets to defend their proclivity for survival. A differing strata of fundamental values and understanding. One which cannot be understood without the burdens of suffering.

In search of isolation, great lengths can be taken to find sanctuary; a place to relive pent up frustration. It’s difficult to acknowledge when something has failed us but ‘Failure Of Light,’ lays out the sentiments in hopelessly beautiful narrative. Climbing to the highest point and allowing emotions rush up to the failures of god; a light which had fizzled out long ago, when power became more significant that human life.

Staring up in search of nightlight, buried in dirt from all angles, withered and worn, ‘Beneath The Earth’ is a tranquil soundscape of hollowed air pockets. The guitar has been given the freedom to expand the full extent of its sound. Drumming commences erosion, crumbing vacant spaces and allowing the gaps to swell with distortion. Crass vocals reverberate to shake the the earth, making every step a calculated risk; a path destine for the wounded.

A sonic wave pans your senses. Tribal beats, off in the distance, beckon you in as you’re wrapped up in the swirling gust of Tom‘s guitar. The small hints of Gary‘s bass on ‘The Bridge’ hit the other notes with just the right contention to bring harmony back to this colossal beast of oozing sludge.

The title and final track on the record, ‘The Earth Wants Us Dead,’ brings the album full circle, drenching it in almost 40 minutes of gorgeously crafted atmospherics and feedback for days. I’m fully in love with this album, as I have been from day one this band. Hope to catch them at Gilead Media Fest in July. Keep the dismal riffs coming boys.

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