Embr: Immortalised In Music
Out of all of metal’s vast array of sub-genres and distinct flavours, doom metal can often carry the most emotion. Whilst doom can often be discarded as a genre of monolithic guitar tones and distorted fuzz, if you immerse yourself in the style’s vast population of bands, you’ll easily find ethereal soundscapes and lyrical passages of philosophical exploration, demonstrating that doom can often offer an insight into the inner workings of emotion, our finite existence and death itself. None know this better than EMBR. Hailing from the US, this young quartet are the living embodiment of this cross-pollination of heaviness with emotional fragility.
“EMBR‘s vision since its inception was to find the balance between darkness and light, tranquillity and turmoil, to produce something abrasive offset with beauty,” drummer Eric Bigelow tells us. “For 1823 [the band’s debut full-length record] we set out to realise that vision by writing heavy songs with enough space within the riffs and structure to allow the vocals to shine through. All in all, the album is cohesive and flows well from start to finish. We are very proud of it.”
It would be easy to assume that EMBR are just following the tropes of incorporating emotional weight into the music of 1823, but dig beneath the surface and you’ll find that the vast outpouring of emotion comes from an incredible story, one which lives and breathes in the band themselves, particularly Eric himself. The album title of their astonishing debut, 1823, has special significance as it references the deceased unknown donor whose kidney ending up saving Eric‘s life, who himself had been on the waiting list for around four years. It’s a phenomenal story as Eric retells it for us, “I should note that I have had kidney issues for most of my life, I was born with a deformity and had reconstructive surgery when I was a baby. I lived most of my life as normal but in 2018 it started to catch up with me. Basically, I was in the last stages of kidney failure. We were working on the album for about four months, had about three songs and a few ideas in the bank when I got the call. I remember this vividly. I was walking into work when my phone rang, I answered. The nurse said ‘Mr. Bigelow – good morning! We have a perfect match.’ I teared up. Partly because it was a blessing but also because I was so scared. I was terrified of this surgery but I knew it was something I had to do,” Eric recalls.
“As I stated I was terrified. There were a lot of tears and I was a bundle of nerves but Crystal [Bigelow, vocals] and my family were very supportive and helped calm me down. I remember being wheeled into surgery, looking up at the lights and talking to the nurses. They started the anaesthesia and I fell asleep within five seconds. When I awoke, I had a nurse by my side that made sure I was okay. They called my family back to come see me (one at a time), I waited on a recovery room for about an hour. When I finally got in the room, I felt relieved. I made it! I was at Vanderbilt for about a week or so in recovery before I could go home. We asked the doctors about the donor and they couldn’t really tell us too much due to privacy, but, we did find out the donor was a deceased female between the ages of 18 and 23. I recovered at home for close to a month before we resumed writing. When we finished, we were trying to think of a title. We have three EPs and all the EPs have numbers attached to them [261, 271, 326] so, in keeping with that theme we decided to name this full length 1823. It’s dedicated to the doctors, surgeons, nurses at Vanderbilt and the donor of the kidney.”
When you read Eric‘s story and experience of being on the operating table, you can’t help but be lost for words. It’s a mind-blowing story, one in which will be immortalised on their glistening debut album. A touching tribute, you feel that the central theme of what Eric went through bleeds into the music itself. Crushing riffs and devilish snarls on opener Prurient transcend into ethereal harmonies where Crystal‘s vocals soar like a phoenix whilst Your Burden‘s hefty and glacial riffs swing and bounce in gorgeous rhythm to the ethereal undertones. And as Eric divulges some insight into the band’s eclectic influences, you get the feeling that EMBR are striving to be so much more than just another typical doom band. “There is some doom in there for sure but there’s also some alternative, rock and grunge. I think it sounds eclectic and different. It wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision to add or build a specific sound. Honestly, we just write what feels good to us. If we get goosebumps, it’s a keeper. Music is subjective and people feel it differently. It’s going to be interesting to get feedback and see what other people hear in the music.”
When all is said and done, once one has dissected the band’s wide palette of influences and divulged into the quite phenomenal story behind 1823, you are left with an album of genuine quality, one in which confidently announces EMBR to the world. Switch off and embrace EMBR.
1823 is out now via New Heavy Sounds.
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