Blessure Grave - Judged by Twelve, Carried by Six

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 27 May, 2010.

Fuck me, this is uber-goth. Albeit executed in a brilliantly DIY manner. There's a healthy amount of stentorian tension & some odd tunings on this record. They also sound like they eat early Cure records for breakfast, these guys. I love the creepy atmospherics & the pummeling drum machine on this album as well as the spidery, caustic tendrils of guitar that often surface like the audio equivelent of a mist shrouded portent, (fans of the recent Forest Swords record will find some interesting parallels here) but I struggle a little with the varying quality of the vocals (on occasion) which at their best sound like Artery's Mark Goldthorpe and at their most comical merely make me think of some over-serious tragi-goth types. It's all been done before but there's some really impressive, magical touches throughout that makes listening carefully quite a compulsory task.

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Founded as a duo by T. Graves and Reyna Kay in September 2008, Blessure Grave blurs the lines between the Goth, Post Punk and Neo Folk genres. The pair has since developed the project into a full band while building a cult-like following, scattering various vinyl and tape releases on boutique labels around the globe. Citing Killing Joke, Death in June, March Violets and The Cure as influ- ences, Blessure Grave injects a pop sensibility into songs otherwise doomed to dreariness, creating an interesting mix of old and new but dark all around. The music initially appears rather simple, but quickly reveals the fact that the songs are fully fleshed-out and genuinely memorable. Perhaps what is misleading at first is that the recordings sound as though they were created in some kult black metal band’s dungeon for maximum fog-at-dusk fidelity. Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six is the debut full-length release by Blessure Grave. While a vinyl edition limited to 500 copies will be issued by Release the Bats in the UK, the CD version will also include 4 tracks lifted from their debut 12” EP Learn to Love the Rope, originally released on Captured Tracks. The album provides the perfect soundtrack for contemplating today’s troubled times or for simply being swept away with the nostalgic 80s vibe that perme- ates much of the recording. The band does not waste a lot a time allowing tracks to drone on: the songs are short and to the point, with the average track approximately three minutes in length. A number of the tracks on the album could be considered singles. Take for example the beautifully haunting duet Resting Place For Two, where band leaders Grave and Kay share vocal duties. Equally enjoyable are pieces like Hope For The Worst, In My Mind, The Cycle and In The First Place. Blessure Grave will initially perform around their native California in addition to concerts in Austin, Texas for the 2010 edition of SXSW, with more substan- tial touring planned for both America and Europe later in the year.

Track Listing: 1 Intro 2 The Cycle 3 A Thousand Drums 4 Stop Breathing 5 Open or Shut 6 In the First Place 7 Changes in the Darkness 8 Resting Place for Two 9 In My Mind 10 Hope for the Worst 11 Echo 12 Feeding the Silence 13 Learn to Love the Rope 14 Mirror 15 Hindsight 16 City Lights

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