Given the abundance of heavy music that addresses theatrical horror, it’s a shame how only a tiny fraction of it confronts the real-life horror that lurks under our noses. With Light Falls, Wrekmeister Harmonies help offset this imbalance for the third album in a row, as bandleader J.R. Robinson continues to hone-in on the mundane roots of evil. Along with likeminded acts such as SubRosa, Wrekmeister Harmonies weave chamber elements into metal-based forms. Like their previous album Night of Your Ascension, Light Falls presents new angles on the doom sub-genre. But where Ascension’s long stretches of choral chanting and plodding, monolithic doom sections gave the music an impenetrable facade, here Robinson finally achieves the seamless integration he’s been pursuing since launching the project in 2006.
A large part of Robinson’s success comes from a less heavy-handed approach. Yes, Godspeed You! Black Emperor drummer Timothy Herzog plays big and bombastic, sometimes openly emulating Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham’s signature kick-drum pedal work. But Herzog swings more than Robinson’s previous guest drummers, and the drums on Light Falls occupy a more discreet position in the mix. Robinson also carves out more space for the arrangements, giving even the heaviest of the new material a vintage texture unlike the wall of distortion that characterized Ascension. Core member Esther Shaw is joined by Sophie Trudeau (also of Godspeed) who both use the increased space as an opportunity to steal the show.
With both playing piano and violin, Shaw and Trudeau shine on the album’s gentler tunes, “Light Falls I: The Mantra,” “Where Have You Been My Lovely Son,” and “My Lovely Son Reprise.” Most remarkably, though, their violin work also mesmerizes on the crashing “Some Were Saved Some Drowned,” an invigorating example of how Wrekmeister Harmonies are locating flexibility within the rigid patterns of doom metal. Shaw and Trudeau don’t merely hold their own but threaten to engulf the guitars the whole way. Not only does the song highlight the significant progression between the last album and this one, but it also brings into communion all of the musical and thematic qualities that set Wrekmeister Harmonies apart.
Wrekmeister Harmonies’ body of work makes it clear that, as an artist, Robinson is driven to reconcile with our most disturbing impulses. At the same time, his music attempts to illuminate the humanity at the heart of our darkness. “Some Were Saved Some Were Drowned” derives its title from Holocaust survivor Primo Levi’s book, The Drowned and the Saved, which according to fellow author and essayist Tim Parks “must rank as one of the most powerful and upsetting attempts at moral analysis ever undertaken.” As Parks points out, Levi’s writing hardly spares the concentration camp prisoners it documents. In fact, one of its biggest takeaways is that the victims at Auschwitz could succumb to as much cruelty as their torturers.
Taken together, Night of Ascension and Light Falls work as a triptych portrayal of human depravity. Ascension first deals with one individual's act of double murder, then escalates in scope to address the Catholic Church’s institutional complicity in its molestation scandal. On Light Falls, Robinson ups the ante yet again by turning his gaze on the Holocaust. Because Robinson tends not to overplay his lyrical hand (Wrekmeister Harmonies albums contain only a sprinkling of vocals), it’s not like you can listen to Light Falls and walk away with a better understanding of what drives human beings to commit unimaginable acts of violence.
But understanding isn’t the point here. The mysteries that Robinson can’t seem to turn away from might elude our understanding forever. With Light Falls, though, he makes a most convincing case to go toward them rather than try and evade or ignore them. He also turns that case into an immensely rewarding listen that takes both his band—and the hybrid genre he’s helping invent—to new heights.
