Chuck Schuldiner Project

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Pharaoh - Negative Everything


Now here's a band I discovered at the A389 Bash last weekend, a sludge act who not only bring the heavy stuff, but make it loud, proud, and terror-inducing. There is a wonderfully demented element to Pharaoh's Negative Everything. It's the kind of album that takes jam derived sludge and turns into something horrifying and evil. This is a band who will grab you by the throat and keep you prisoner, a slave to your more base desires. Turned onto a more sublime form of evil, Negative Everything will capture your darkest thoughts.

The songs on Negative Everything have a distinct flavor to them and I think that's a part of what makes the Pharaoh sound so enticing. They come out of the gutter and rip out your throat with a sound that is epic, and oftentimes beautiful. Though at first glimpse these songs seem evil and bleak, the production is spot on and reflects a band who really get what sludge metal should be all about. The nihilistic worlds painted by this three piece capture the imagination, it creates the sort of universe that is reflected on the album art, one that is black, white, and extremely grim with no hope for the future, yet that is what makes us stronger.

See, somewhere within the growling guitars and searing vocals, there is a sense of hope, the occasional padding that comes in the form of gentle synths and distortion helps to provide a way out of the stark world crafted by these guys. Negative Everything is a sludge metal masterpiece packed with potential, leaving me begging for more. These guys understand what it means to create a record that leaves you waiting to die in the arms of a demented creature, destined to take you to the abyss. Yet beyond that, Pharaoh is freedom, and their jam oriented magic will take you to a brave new world.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pharaohNJ

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