Style: dissonant death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Gorguts, Ulcerate
Country: Germany
Release date: 19 April 2024
For many years I believed melodic death metal to be the peak of music. How could anything supersede the godly, timeless melodies of Wintersun or Be’Lakor, equal parts majestically earwormy and pummelingly heavy? Then, one day, I grew up and became an insufferable hipster, thriving off of dissonance solely because it makes the general public cringe in fear (this is hyperbolic for the sake of the story [Editor’s note: it’s not], though I do love dissonance). And at this point in my music-listening career, it’s rare for me to find dissodeath I don’t like. Lumped together with Replicant by Transcending Obscurity, Mære are an up-and-coming German band already in the big leagues.
They falter, and being implicitly compared to Replicant is solely a way to get people to check them out. The normal genre strokes are present—low howling vocals, skronky guitar lines, and occasional blast beats—but to amorphous effect. Of the many riffs, some are quite addicting in isolation like the trem-picking to counteract the chugs in “All Those Things We’ve Never Been (The Grandeur of Nihilism)” or the drunkenly stumbling opening of “The Darkness Is Your Mother,” but like Acausal Intrusion, the band loses me despite their warped riffs as the songs progress like a blob of goo, harmless. Where’s the bite? Certainly not from any particular technicality—Mære are happiest at a doom-y crawl à la Spectral Voice—nor from any foreboding heaviness—the riffs never hit, making …And the Universe Keeps Silent painfully dull like a harmless pug struggling to breathe or one of those telescope-eyed goldfish. Hecking Archspire get voicemails to “Bring back the fucking danger in the music” (“A.U.M.”), but Mære aren’t dangerous, just kinda freaky by virtue of what the genre is (human-caused genetic monstrosity and/or dissonant death metal).
The main draw of the album has to be the end of “Tramlande (Ascending the Abyss),” featuring a ritualistic buildup that pays off with a wailing guitar ending. Occasionally the band tighten the songwriting to their benefit such as on “The Darkness Is Your Mother” which is largely built on a single riff mutating endlessly, even approaching an Ad Nauseam-esque section. Of course, Mære don’t have the same production quality as the GOAT, but …And the Universe Keeps Silent sounds about as murky as you’d expect this style to be, though more crispness would likely help with the blob vibes.
The lyrics on …And the Universe Keeps Silent are edgy philosophical poetry, like something I wrote in my early years of high school, though mercifully lacking my exuberant use of a thesaurus. Mildly entertaining to follow along with, the lyrics definitely fit the tone of the album—and are equally as unrefined to boot. They’re much more tolerable as raspy growls and barks than as spoken word, an experiment which fails several times throughout …And the Universe Keeps Silent. I get it, though, dabbling in philosophy is fun.
With bassist IV and drummer V previously in Ingurgitating Oblivion, Mære have the pedigree to write really solid dissodeath and failed at the task here. Don’t listen to this expecting Replicant-level music, you’ll be left as disappointed as I am.
Recommended tracks: Tramlande (Ascending the Abyss), The Darkness Is Your Mother
You may also like: Haar, Vertebrae Atlantis, Abyssal, Ad Nauseam, Qrixkuor, Devenial Verdict, Acausal Intrusion, Ingurgitating Oblivion
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Transcending Obscurity – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
band in question is:
III – guitars
IV – bass
V – drums, guitars
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