2011, self-released (download here)
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I've heard heavier albums than Monuments, sure. Heaviness often results from context, and there are bands that write grimmer, denser, eviler songs than Dead Empires. But for an instrumental three-piece that doesn't rely on dark atmosphere, Monuments is one of the most concussive albums I've listened to in a while. Real deep heaviness usually goes hand-in-hand with the grim processional style of doom metal, or the thudding straight-forwardness of sludge metal. It isn't easy to make music this pulverizing that still sounds unique, that doesn't smother its tone in one crusty monolithic texture. Maybe it works because Dead Empires writes music that also happens to be very fast — and maybe that's enough to disguise their influences — but these don't sound like guys who sat down to write heavy instrumental music because any one band inspired them to do so. If anything, it sounds like a fan of sludge metal got together with a fan of thrash metal, added a prog metal dude, and then, with no one dominating their influences, combined powers equally like some awesome metal version of Captain Planet (please, someone, for the love of satan: make Metal Captain Planet and the Metalteers happen. "From Sweden, Vegard, with the power of black metal! From Portland, Haughm, with the power of pagan folk metal!") Heaviness often comes at the cost of dexterity and intensity, but not here: Dead Empires is never so intent on maiming your senses that they lose focus on interesting songwriting and forward monument. Monuments doesn't have the emotional darkness that often makes metal seem heavier than it is — in this case, it's just really heavy and genuinely intense.
With any instrumental band, there's always going to be some asshole who comments: "It's good, but it would be better with a vocalist." If you're a fan of such music, you've learned to ignore these people, because they're impossible to reason with. (I bet there was someone who said this to Mozart, and he probably listened to whatever the 18th Century equivalent of Avenged Sevenfold was.) Dead Empires make a good case for the versatility of instrumental music, as I suspect they weren't particularly influenced by any of the major post-metal players anyway. Isis, Pelican and Russian Circles have been ripped off by dozens of bands, and for good reason. Their songwriting style and skills are perfectly suited to creating a certain atmosphere, and that atmosphere becomes synonymous with the band — then an entire, narrow subgenre. Not every band is so creative, or has their own 'tone,' and so many bands keep their influences close. But when you're channeling a band whose success is based on atmosphere and identity, the music you write runs a risk of sounding watered-down — it's no longer a matter of borrowing a few guitar techniques or a vocal style, as when broader metal subgenres were still forming fifteen years ago. At this point you're mimicking the actual emotion of another band's music, and therefore, yours is going to sound false and stale. Dead Empires doesn't shoot for a particular atmosphere; they kept their focus on intensity and songwriting. The music here is dense in addition to just 'heavy,' and that's what ultimately dispels the "should have had vocals" bullshit. Where are there even room for vocals here? I wouldn't say that it's necessarily easier to write songs based around lyrics, but doing so can give a song structure; instrumental bands have the added challenge of compensating for that backbone, and many fail to write music that speaks for itself. Monuments has enough crammed into every moment that full vocals would seem almost superfluous. The band had plenty of other ideas to explore. That sort of density isn't particularly common among instrumental metal, and it's refreshing to find here — a band that didn't set out to write music with an inspirational agenda, and wouldn't have room for lyrics anyway, once all the riffs are in.
Monuments isn't a particularly genre-bending album, but it's influences have been blended perfectly, to the point where it's hard to say that it sounds like anyone in particular. Dead Empires doesn't fit into any current scene that I can think of, but I hope that doesn't work against them. There's the heaviness of contemporary sludge-metal, and even some of the meandering prog tendencies that Mastodon and Kylesa have both explored with recent albums. But there's also a bit of unhinged, hardcore restlessness that gives the album such a jolt of adrenaline, not to mention the punch of thrash and death metal. And while I don't think Dead Empires was influenced to write atmospheric soundscapes, don't get the impression that tone isn't important here. Guitarist John Bryan plays with an almost jammy psychedelic smoothness that blends a sense of groove into the galloping, obliterating riffs of songs like "Villains" — instead of sounding like the band is switching from 'heavy moment' to 'texture-building moment.' The rolling drums and bass pound along perfectly, and give the album its snap, helping the music merge heaviness and intensity without noticeably changing pace. Even at only four songs, Monuments runs through a lot of material, but all of it packs a punch. Heavy usually just sounds like heavy — or another band's brand of heavy, a certain guitar-tone brand of heavy — but Dead Empires manages to circumvent that identity crisis, and only one EP into their career.
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