#like it makes sense. but god tours grinding can be so exhausting. its avoidable i know but gOSH

[chisungie]

that one free spark pull gave me this guy‼️ i literally only wanted this guy tysm happyele🙏

[doomedandstoned]

A Walk through the Desert of Absurdity with Mizmor

~Review & Interview by Calvin Lampert~

'Cairn' (2019) is a good cry. That was my impression after listening to the new Mizmor record for the first time; I felt positively exhausted after the last drones of "The Narrowing Way" faded into silence. Despite being on the surface a garish mixture of black and doom metal (or as Mizmor mastermind A.L.N. himself put it: “wholly doomed black metal”) there’s something comforting about Cairn, a sort of cleansing quality that goes beyond simple catharsis. And it was just what I needed. Fate has it that whenever I feel particularly down one of my favorite bands drops their new record.

Last year, it was YOB with their wonderful Our Raw Heart, and it seems like this year Mizmor aides. Even the impeccable release timing aside this was a release that I had high hopes in, especially after the incredible Yodh in 2016 and I was certain Mizmor would deliver. That’s just me of course, and your mileage will vary, on account of the deeply personal nature of Mizmors music and well...the music itself, which is anything but easy-listening. After all, Mizmor was created out of necessity, for A.L.N. to deal with his loss of faith, existential dread, and search for meaning, and, now with Cairn, the question of how to proceed with your life? Bleak stuff, even within the bleak realm of one-man blackened doom metal projects.

Yet, there’s a lot to appreciate about Cairn, so much in fact that I had an entire review written for it, only to scrap most of the draft, because I had found so many new aspects to talk about in the time leading up to the interview with A.L.N. (read below), and after talking to him I was left with an even deeper appreciation for the record and the way it is structured. An album I felt I hadn’t done justice with my initial draft. Thus, onto draft No. 2.

Possibly the most immediate quality of Cairn is the odd meddling of beauty and horror, hope and despair. One would be quick to point out the copious amount of world-weary, acoustic guitar sections (which are a staple of Mizmor's music) in contrast to the overall heaviness and abrasiveness of Cairn as the most obvious example of this, yet the aspect that was a particular standout to me was the rather unusual melody of the first half of the album opener, "Desert of Absurdity."

Cairn by מזמור

The first time you hear it it tricks you into believing that it is your standard black metal tremolo pick, but then the melody progresses into something more hopeful, uplifting even. But think less Deafheaven's "Sunbather" and more YOB's "Essence" (for the select few that are familiar with that rarity). In a way it even could pass as a continuation of the grand outro section of "Inertia, an ill Compeller" off Yodh. Good things don’t last though, and before long the melody shifts into something darker, in a process that I can only describe akin to watching a timelapse of a still life turning to rot. Mizmor never slips into outright exaltation and all that is beautiful comes with a ball-and-chain of melancholy at best, and abysmal despair at worst.

Cairn by מזמור

And it only gets darker from here. Follow-up "Cairn to God" with its gargantuan 18-minute runtime has (unlike "Desert of Absurdity") no concern for attention spans or fancy tempo changes and proceeds to drop a huge and indeed wholly doomed riff on your head. This is Mizmor at it’s blatantly doomiest to date; an exercise in patience, yet also a surprisingly varied song. But persistent above all else. The main riff is ever present, whether it is there as droning chords, slow tremolo pick or acoustic break, its resolve and grip cannot be broken, even when "Cairn to God" grinds to a complete halt and falls silent for a few tense moments, as if to gather its strength for the next step while it drags you through the landscape. In short, it’s agonizing. A labor to match for both the listener and the artist.

Cairn by מזמור

"Cairn to Suicide" feels almost like a respite. An odd thing to say, considering the less than gentle transition from the mournful wallow of "Cairn to God," to the full-on-blastbeat assault at a second's notice. More than any other song, "Cairn to Suicide" plays with your expectations, and just as you probably didn’t see that jump-scare of an opening coming, you won’t really be prepared for what is possibly Cairn's most triumphant moment -- a sudden return of the main riff after a fake acoustic outro that launches into a dramatic guitar lead over a striding mid-tempo beat and A.L.N.'s desperate howl. As with the bittersweet melody of "Desert of Absurdity," it is something that is hard to put into words (cue the saying of reviewing music is like dancing about architecture) and has to be heard to be really appreciated, but I cannot overstate how majestic, but also incredibly driving and urgent this section is. It lends a certain righteousness to despair; feeling anything but empathy for A.L.N. would seem wrong at this point. If you’re looking for a highlight, here it is.

Because of it’s varied nature, "Cairn to Suicide" also shows the virtues of the more polished production of the record. Whereas Yodh’s raw production made its densest moments feel downright claustrophobic and suffocating, Cairn's comparatively seems almost “lofty” -- “too much,” some might say. You feel vulnerable and exposed in the open space of the extended ambient section of "Cairn to Suicide," not quite unlike the small figure trapped the gaze of the towering, ominous entity that adorns Cairn's cover (yet another striking piece by Mariusz Lewandowski of Mirror Reaper fame). The art is equally reflective of that change from Yodh with its vivid colors; the all-permeating existential dread is just a different flavor this time.

Cairn by מזמור

Reaching a tentative climax with "Cairn to Suicide" begs the question where album closer "The Narrowing Way" will go. To the wake apparently, because in textbook funeral doom manner A.L.N. busts out a king size forlorn saaaaaad riff-lead combo that wouldn’t be out of place on a Pallbearer or Loss record, except it is much more bitter. No, "The Narrowing Way" doesn’t go gentle into that good night, and the lack of a pastoral acoustic outro, which had been the conclusions of the previous songs, is the least of your worries.

"The Narrowing Way" really can only be described as fucking bitter. A.L.N.'s vocals suddenly seem uncomfortably close -- it’s do or die, as his snarl shifts into an air-starved howl. The song begins to slow down to a crawl and lose form, collapsing into a cacophony of shrieks, until nothing but a distant chant remains. A.L.N. might as well have called it quits at this point but in a move that seems downright cruel a single menacing guitar rises out of the remains of the song, beckoning the arrival of Cairn's most desolate and barren chapter; an ugly, dissonant and crushing “thing” that you could call a breakdown. The breakdown to end breakdowns, really. We’re talking Primitive Man levels of sheer being-done-with-it-ness. Then, a final wail and nothing but smashed drones remain.

All gone and done, Cairn leaves you in shambles. And therein lies A.L.N./Mizmors greatest strength: his capability to craft emotionally devastating music. Yet (and because of) for how ghastly it all sounds, Cairn, just as its predecessor Yodh, is ultimately a very human record about the human condition. An earnest expression of A.L.N.'s feelings, created out of sheer necessity to expel, deadpan in its conviction and masterful in its execution. Ugly when it must be (which is more than often), beautiful when it can be, and always tugging at your heartstrings.

Whether “emotionally devastating” is something you’re looking for in your music is entirely up to you, but if it connects with you it’ll hit you hard. Granted, that’s a big “if,” but I think it’s what sets a record that is memorable apart from one that is merely good, and Cairn is definitely the former. And this is the lasting impression that has stayed with me for each listen, and each draft of this review.

An Interview with A.L.N. of Mizmor

This interview, just as the review, was unplanned. I had contacted A.L.N. a few days prior to congratulate him on the imminent release of Cairn, but before long we were exchanging bands and discussing the emotional effects of music -- something I had tried to address in our first interview at Roadburn 2018, yet had struggled to put into proper terms back then. A.L.N. offered himself up for another interview to discuss these themes, further put into the context of his new record. An offer I couldn’t decline.

How are you? What is on your mind?

I’m doing fairly well. “Cairn” came out today so I feel celebratory. Things on my mind: the album, tour preparations, other business, my cat who demands attention, my partner with whom I’ll be going to dinner this evening, my friends who make me laugh.

Can you talk a bit about the themes of the record? What is the concept behind 'Cairn'?

In a nutshell, “Cairn” is about setting up guideposts for yourself, in an effort to help navigate the terrain of life by aiding your memory, so as to avoid retracing your steps. It ruminates on the absurdity of life and the human condition, that is mankind’s continual search for meaning in a chaotic universe devoid of ultimate purpose. A person can have one of three responses to this premise: choose to reject reality and believe in God instead (to give your life a sense of ultimate purpose), kill yourself (because a life without ultimate meaning is no longer worth living), or accept the situation for what it is (and live life presently, in truth, in the face of the absurd, defining meaning for yourself in an effort to enjoy and live purposefully). The third option is the only viable one, as the other two escape reality. The cairns (or stacks of rocks) serve as giant memorials to the deaths of both the idea of god and suicide. With these built, the individual is free to continue moving forward, with less confusion and temptation, on the path of a life lived in truth, lucidity, and ultimately enjoyment.

I think a lot of people had very high expectations after 'Yodh.' I found myself asking what could possibly follow after a record of such magnitude? Not really that I was having doubts that 'Cairn' would be a great record, but it felt like 'Yodh' was final, just “razed everything”, and I couldn’t really sketch out where you’d go with Cairn. Did you feel any pressure during the creation of the record?

Yes, but a lot of it was self-imposed. As an artist, I am always seeking to push myself into new territory and outdo what I have done previously. My own personal bar I set is to try and make a record I will be comfortable with listening to in 10 years. I’m not sure this is possible, which is why I implement it (or it is possible and I just have not yet made a good enough record). I put immense pressure on myself to create something that displayed higher fidelity, superior techniques, better songwriting, and strong performances (as compared with my previous works). Like many, I am my own toughest critic, so making a better (and different) record than Yodh seemed difficult to me, since I still felt fairly satisfied with that album (in the sense that I felt it was an accurate expression of my emotions and thesis). But there were a lot of things I wanted to improve upon, and therein lies the pressure. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t aware of the fact that certain folks held “Yodh” in high regard -- we got to play important festivals because of that album and even had one of those live sets released on vinyl by a label, so I knew people liked it.

This was the cherry on top of the pressure cake I had created for myself. But at the end of the day, it truly doesn’t matter what other people think. I of course want my supporters to like the next thing I make, but the reason I make the music is intensely personal, and in that sense, I make the records for myself and my own satisfaction with my work is what I’m seeking to achieve. I want to get to the other side of the album creating process and be able to feel that I have successfully accomplished my goal of taking my vision and making it come to life effectively. Did the emotion get conveyed? Is the theme understandable? Does the sonic quality aid in the absorption of the message? Does the artwork help in the digestion of the music? I just want to be able to say, ‘Yep, I did my best to get this thing from point A to point B with my core intention still in tact,’ and in that sense, be able to feel proud of it. And whether or not people like it is another story.

We talked about how music affects us emotionally. Like, how I feel a strong connection to your music despite not having gone through the same spiritual turmoil as you have. We’ve both come to the conclusion that there seems to be a mutual empathic bond between the listener and artist. How would you describe it (as you seem way better at describing it than I do)? How do you experience and perceive it, more specifically as an artist? And whose music makes you feel that way?

That’s a good question. To answer the first part, as an artist, I experience the mutual empathy between artist and listener directly in its most potent form when people reach out to talk to me about their experience with the music. With Mizmor, this is usually related to traumatic religious situations: people who have escaped, survived, or otherwise left their religions. I personally love having these conversations because they let me know I’m not alone. There is a certain element of relief and even freedom in learning this. I’m humbled whenever someone shares with me their story and tells me my music has helped them in some way. It inspires in me a newfound sense of purpose; that simply being open, honest, and vulnerable about my own life and experiences in the form of creating art can resound in others and inspire relationship. It’s incredibly powerful; we help one other, therapeutically in this way.

The second part of the question is a little more difficult to answer. There is a broader sense to an intangible quality of music (and other art) which inspires in me what I will call ‘the feeling.’ What I mean by ‘the feeling’ is somewhat ineffable but can be hinted at with words like yearning, longing, being moved, and being taken with emotion. For me, melancholic melodies usually do this, especially when the human voice is involved. If you want some examples of music I am moved by from various genres, I recommend checking out the artist-playlist I recently made for Evil Greed on Spotify titled “Up to Date: A.L.N. (Mizmor)”. There is a more specific sense in which this can occur in a more potent form and I believe that is empowered by clarity and authenticity.

When music has a definite purpose/meaning, especially when it is an outlet for healing, therapy, and catharsis, it really hits home. For example, I am extremely moved by the music of my close friend Matt (or MSW, whose music is called Hell). Hell effectively utilizes melodies and riffs for the purpose of emotional release through the telling of a story of grief from the loss of a family member. If you don’t know this, the music is still absolutely amazing on its own (and you may even be able to sense that something more is lying beneath the surface of the sonics); if you do know this, the music becomes so incredibly weighty, that it’s nearly impossible to hear without becoming completely immersed and overwhelmed by empathy, sadness, and longing. The marriage of talent and purpose is what makes art truly compelling.

You’re heading out for your first tour next month. I imagine performing this music live every night will be very draining (both physically with you also drumming for Hell, as well as emotionally). How do you plan to keep things level-headed?

I don’t, haha. I am nervous. I will performing with Mizmor night after night; I’ve only ever performed a Mizmor set as a stand-alone affair. In addition to trying out this consecutiveness, as you’ve said, I’ll be performing with Hell every night too. Back to back performances, back to back nights. I’m used to performing with Hell on tour and though it’s difficult, we manage. I think Matt and I are going to get very physically and emotionally drained, not just from the performances, but in all the other ways that you must sacrifice comfort, stability, and routine to live life on the road. I will probably get sick, as I do on almost every tour (just a cold though), but we will only be gone for 2.5 weeks, which is the perfect amount. I am going to try and focus on how special it is to be with five of my dearest friends, traveling around playing music we’ve written. I am incredibly grateful for these opportunities and am going to continually seek to focus my attention on all the love and fun around me.

New music for Mizmor is only written when you have the emotional need to do so, so this might be too early to ask, but where do you feel that Mizmor is headed to next, thematically? Just as with 'Yodh' I find myself wondering what could possibly come after Cairn?

To be completely honest, I have no idea what the future looks like for Mizmor. I’ve always taken the project one step at a time, only progressing to new territory when it is necessitated by the demand for expression in myself and the demand for greater accessibility by my fans. Releasing a new full-length and going on tour for the first time are big enough steps for me that I’m still really just focusing on that right now. New music has to find me, which takes an unknown amount of time. But I think it’s safe to expect some more live engagements, here and there, around this new chapter called “Cairn.”

Thank you for your time!

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