It is with great pride today that we bring you a harrowing glimpse into a shattered world devoid of all sanity. Show of Bedlam are a Canadian avantgarde doom metal band from Montreal who are impossible to truly define and pretty much sound like nothing else out there – and are now about to unleash their mind-boggling second full-length album titled Transfiguration. Simply put, Transfiguration is terrifying. It is a bleak, unforgiving, and absolutely mindless assault on the senses. It could be the suffocating atmospheres, the obsessive-sounding songwriting, the discordant and humiliatingly crushing guitars, or vocalist Paulina Richards’ absolutely nightmarish vocal delivery that have made this album so absurd and unsettling, we will not truly fully ever know, but what we do now for sure is that Transfiguration is downright fucking horrifying. It is in many ways a “deviated” work, and it is disturbing to an extent that will leave you speechless, all while being majestic, grandiose, and sinister in the most beautiful way at the same time. Today we’re honored to give you a glimpse into this insanity through the mind-fucking track Tælus….
Essentially an extremist and completely gone insane re-elaboration of 90’s noise rock, goth and doom, Show of Bedlam have somehow managed to pull together a surreal array of influences, taking elements from bands like Neurosis, Butthole Surfers, Diamanda Galas, Christian Death, Godflesh, Unsane, Bodychoke, Bauhaus, Swans, Engine Kid, Burning Witch etc, and coercing all this primordial chaos into a bestial orgy of genres and styles to materialize something of truly hideous form. Noise rock, goth, colossus-sized sludge, and post-punk live within this band’s music disfigured, torn and meat-grinded into something new and visceral that has the weight of a mountain and the mass of a black hole. Richards’ vocals are the true focal point in all this chaotic cluster of sonic terror – sounding like Jarboe on electro-shock, Diamanda Galas playing sadistic hardcore punk, or Julie Christmas on convulsions, and her appalling lyrical themes morbidly digging into themes of mental illness, psychological abuse, humiliation, human degradation, and mental hospitals definitely don’t help brighten this blighted and devastating picture the band has painted for our sorry ears.
Transfiguration drops on May 12 through Sentient Ruin (US vinyl/Cassette – Pre-order here or here), Desorde Ordonnee (CA vinyl – Pre-order), Dawnbreed Records (EU vinyl/tape), and PRC Music (CD worldwide – Pre-order). Truly a spectacular and disturbing album that will have many of us scratching our heads and feeling haunted for a long, long time.
