Last week, Decibel shared a track from Jaws-obsessed sludge brigade Squalus’ upcoming split with Californian progressive sludge quartet Shadow Limb. Today, Decibel shares a track from Shadow Limb’s side.
“Dark Sigil” ranges from from bright and proggy to crushing, and often changes on a dime. Shadow Limb are able to instill a feeling of controlled chaos, letting them explode into crushing heaviness before dancing back to mathy, bright guitars and vice versa.
“The band we were for nine years (La Fin du Monde) wrote a lot of really long songs, with really complex arrangements,” drummer Dan Elsen explains. “When we started Shadow Limb, we made a valiant effort to stay away from old habits, and play more straightforward, riff-based sludge. Like an old pair of shoes you can’t get rid of, it crept right back into the mold, as that was what we were good at, and that was what we enjoyed. ‘Dark Sigil’ is a perfect example of this, but the old mixed with the new. It starts off with our typical math-y weirdness, and from there alternates back-and-forth from the straightforward to the weird, with a lot of the prettier, more melodic/atmospheric sections that we were very comfortable with from the previous project slipping in.”
The song even has similarities to Squalus in its writing, as guitarist/vocalist Chris Roberts acknowledges.
“Musically, ‘Dark Sigil’ has a little bit of everything we do as a band,” he notes. “It seemed like the perfect song to include as the closer for this split with Squalus. There’s even a guitar part in the beginning section we call the ‘Squid lick’ because it reminded us of something Aaron from Squalus/Giant Squid would play.”
Mass and Power will see release December 14 on Translation Loss. As you may be aware, Shadow Limb’s hometown of Chico and the surrounding areas have been severely affected by the fires in California; the band encourage those who are able to consider donating to the North Valley Community Foundation to offer relief to those in need.
