Bathed in Light
by Usnea
Tom Shepherd
Tom Shepherd
Oscillating between mountainous doom riffs, piercing black metal attack and post-metal atmospherics without ever losing focus or drive. An album to get lost in; and one of the albums of 2023.
Favorite track: The Compleated Sage.
Doom_and_Dead
Doom_and_Dead
This album is a slow trudge through the depths--full of calloused textures and black metal edges. Ponderous riffs and ferocious growls jostle for control, as if to echo society’s continued collapse. Read the full review at doomanddead.com/post/718860716077170688.
Favorite track: From Soot and Pyre.
Darknight
Darknight
Usnea create the most epic of doominess sludge metal with the major whiff of darkened funeral metal and it all comes together to suffocate you.
Favorite track: From Soot and Pyre.
Funeral Fog
Funeral Fog
Writing for Doom Heart, we receive a lot of links to early album streams, this being one of them. You can check out the full album early at CVLT Nation. My favorite track on the album, without a doubt is The Compleated Sage. It is a beast to behold. Premeditatio Malorum starts off with a beautiful and slow guitar section, it lulls you in, then blasts your ears with thunderous funeral doom. The post-rock/black metal sections have no happy moments, it just drowns you.
Favorite track: The Compleated Sage.
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Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift cardDownload available in 24-bit/96kHz.
$7.50 USD or more
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumUsnea - Bathed in Light 2xLP
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Includes unlimited streaming of Bathed in Light via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card$25 USD or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumBathed in Light CD
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Includes unlimited streaming of Bathed in Light via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card$10 USD or more
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Other ApparelSilver thread embroidered on a black background.ships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card
$5 USD or more
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Button/Pin/Patch2" enamel pinships out within 7 daysPurchasable with gift card
$5 USD or more
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Misanthropic T-Shirt
ShirtMisanthropic design on black T-shirtSold Out
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1. |
Bathed in Light
06:56
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Simulara—absurd memes scorched into dreams
Caustic, delusive, voltaic beams
Orwellian realities
Flickering screens, the eye bathed in light
at proclamations issued in the night
in binary currents
Liar’s alchemy, verbal excrement
fucking deceiver, compulsory deluder
artful contrivance
Truth changes on a whim from hidden algorithms
Disseminated to us like flies scattered in the wind
No validity, no hindrance from humanity
the operating current flows inward—outward
the light corrodes critical faculties
Echoes of destruction fill the void
with existence comes pain
a hollow ascension
to explain transcendence in modern lexicon
the order corrodes, annihilation is all
nothingness’ edge, oblivion’s gate
Dictatorship of illusion, gaslighting the masses
atonement through obeisance, manipulated silence
untruth is violence
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2. |
The Compleated Sage
06:32
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gnawer of bones
carrion breath
gaping maw
consumed by consumption
freezing nights
burning hunger
ravenous eternal pain
forever
sleepwalking
lecherous disgrace, peak delusion
recoil in disgust, say it—say it
recoil in disgust, we did this to us
Great synthesis, vorniclex aware
father perfect machines multiverse
duel-realm spirits emperor compleat
moonstone violence shadows paralyze
sinking sinking sinking
slipping and flailing
ambushed up-rise destroy realized
awakened, Immortal, Confined, Though compleat
say it—say it
annihilation
recoil in disgust
we did this to us
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3. |
To the Deathless
06:52
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Blood death atone life
Savior chaos tears strife
Contortions of anguish choked on irony
Perversion of brilliance—abundant pestilence
Immeasurable distortions fractured to no end
The irony of discovery is waiting to lose control
through spite and callousness we look on without remorse
automation and technology wielded by those who run the world
we slip backwards into darkness by giving up our turn
A system externalized to pour gasoline on our greed
when entropy reaches it’s crest we’ll see where it leads
To the deathless
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4. |
From Soot and Pyre
05:28
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In the midst of delusion
myriads of worlds
strange dawn ascending
in tongues of flame
Endless ruin
from soot and pyre
seek the sky
there’s no escape when air resigns
scorch the earth
there will be nothing left alive
Flames shoot up and rip apart the ground
Scattered remains are littered all around
Plumes surge out seeking like to eradicate
Asphyxiate the land, it’s worth nothing to us now
The oligarchs watch on from concrete towers
Rising from the ashes like grave shadows at dusk
The solemn pyre spews smoke around the world
A black cloak reaping oblivion down below
There’s no solution the leaves the rule intact
Escape thralldom and convene the attack
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5. |
Premeditatio Malorum
08:43
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It’s always what’s unlooked-for
That is most crushing
exiled tortured before
eying our worthless prize
the hammer crashes down
ourselves we most despise
Unexpected travesty
Adding mass to disaster
Projecting thoughts ahead
Rehearse for the malady
cataclysmic endings
the fall, the flood, the plague
all wiped away—clean the slate
A clarion call for unrest
Dispatch the obvious outcomes
Disruption is what life is
Embrace the swirling chaos
Negative comprehension
Envisage deprivation
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6. |
Uncanny Valley
08:27
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Revulsion, abjection, abased, Dis-ease
Lifelike, prosthetic, defiled, eerie
Grotesque, hubris upon hubris, hideous dissipation
Fools! Clinging to what is not there
Ever-changing winds and tides do not care
Essence disintegration, hostile forces
existence fraught.
The rise of spiritual machines
through blood and dreams
The reign of humans is dead
Gods of chaos, sowers of demise
The ichor flows through
Visage corporeal simulacra
Dissimulate conceal
Through blood unreal
Replace all zeal
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about
credits
released May 26, 2023
Usnea is:
Justin Cory — Vocals / Guitar / Synthesizer
Joel Williams — Vocals / Bass
Johnny Lovingood — Guitar
Zeke Rogers — Drums
Recorded and Engineered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, Oakland, CA
Mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering, Portland, OR
Illustration, artwork, and layout by Justin Cory
Usnea is:
Justin Cory — Vocals / Guitar / Synthesizer
Joel Williams — Vocals / Bass
Johnny Lovingood — Guitar
Zeke Rogers — Drums
Recorded and Engineered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, Oakland, CA
Mastered by Adam Gonsalves at Telegraph Mastering, Portland, OR
Illustration, artwork, and layout by Justin Cory
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Usnea Portland, Oregon
Usnea fuse elements of funeral and death doom, sludge metal, black metal, and esoteric drone. Oppressive tone and volume combine with lyrics searching for meaning in a world full of oppression, human hierarchy and bleakness and fueled by the anger and despondency that are it's by-product... perhaps in the liberation of negativity we are truly freed. ... more
discography
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May 2023 -
Sep 2017 -
Nov 2014 -
Jan 2013 -
Jun 2014 -
Mar 2014
contact / help
Usnea recommends:
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Eroded Corridors of Unbeing
by Spectral VoiceBrutal otherworldly murk from some of the same talents who have brought forth Blood Incantation and Merkstave. The next chapter for fans of Disembowelment and Evoken.
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Distance | Collapsed
by InverlochDisgustingly beautiful release from our mates Inverloch. Even if we hadn't toured together and become friends, this record would blow us all out of the water.
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Every release by this band is nastier and more brutal than the one before it, and yet still so catchy and memorable. Nothing they've done disappoints and they keep getting better.
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