About a million years ago, the late, great Phil Vane famously nicknamed then-Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris “the human tornado.” But little did anyone know that it would be Harris’s former bandmate and current Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury who would ultimately prove to be the most powerful force of nature that extreme music has ever experienced.
Sure, that may seem like a bold statement, but consider Brujeria, Lock Up, Venomous Concept, Tronos, Blood from the Soul and at least a half-dozen other relevant projects that our man has spearheaded over the years. Not to mention the fact that he’s been the heart and soul of 14 amazing Napalm Death albums you’ve heard and one you haven’t that will be released later this year (Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism), which he wrote every goddamn note of.
Anyway, you’re about to hear something from Shane Embury that is unlike anything you’ve heard from our man before in the form of Dark Sky Burial, his new ambient project.
“I have been forming the ideas for DSB for a few years now and being a lover of all music that’s ‘out there,’” Embury tells Decibel. “As a huge retro horror/sci-fi movie fan, I envisioned DSB as an inevitable and natural progression for me as a composer.”
The De Omnibus Dubitandum Est debut is an eclectic mix of dark, harrowing soundscapes and trippy, borderline dub passages, which showcases a distinctly blast beat-free side of Embury.
“It’s my first step on a different path but with the help of my longtime music partner Russ Russell, who mastered the album and added some amazing ambience,” he explains. “I hope some people will find a connection to it and follow me as I embark on this new sonic expedition.”
The material was conceived on tour and at Embury’s home studio, Napalm Towers, in Birmingham. By the Napalm bassist’s estimate, he’s got “three to four more albums’ worth of material” in him, so don’t expect Dark Sky Burial to be a one-off.
“The tracks are a strange sort of therapy for me,” he concludes. “My mind is relentless and escapist at the best of times. And it’s times like these now in the world that listening back that this album seems like a suitable soundtrack—a chance to sever reality here and there for just a little while is always needed.”
We could all use some of that right now. Get your dose below.
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