Label: Crucial Blast
Theologian’s sound is a black tangle of threads; a mass of warring impulses that pin the listener down at the intersection of noise, ambience, melody, and industrial sturm und drang unconstrained by conventional forces. Retaining the dark muscularity of previous outings “Finding Comfort In Overwhelming Negativity” and “The Chasms Of My Heart”, “Some Things Have To Be Endured” is a distillation that finds Leech nudging the sound towards a more structured and dynamic edge.
From the opening moments of “Black Cavern Myopia” through to the last pulsating seconds of “Welcome To The Golden Age Of Beggars”, Theologian evokes a stunning level of emotion by mixing pulsing, metallic rhythms with tempered synth swells and slabs of noise that curl around humming melodies. Where previous outings may have stumbled slightly in pacing, “Some Things Have To Be Endured” is a smooth machine. On most of the tracks, Leech has collaborated with female vocalists from the industrial/noise/dark ambient realm (and, in the case of Melissa Kelly, stage and opera). The pairing of mellifluous harmonies, harsh shrieks, and layered spoken elements adds a level of dynamics to Theologian’s already pungent sound that is both unexpected and affecting.
Yet, despite the added dynamic elements of guest vocalists, Theologian maintains its trademark death industrial sound. Slabs of noise curl up from the deep, reverberating abyss that marries effortlessly with crushed bass drums that stomp along in martial lockstep behind textural synth drones and pulses. “The Conjoined Deviant Procession” stuns with angular instrumental feedback pulses sounding like a Jesus Lizard basement show filtered through a DOD pedal. Each track shows a different facet of Leech and co-producer Derek Rush (Dream Into Dust/A Murder of Angels), flowing from black plastic drones to machine rhythms and back through a twisted sense of melody. The production is restlessly experimental, yet remains rooted in the sinister marriage of noise, drone, industrial, and metal that has become the Theologian touchstone. The ever-prolific James Plotkin lends a balanced finish to the mastering that showcases the searing high-end and crushing bass rumbles without obscuring the wonderful vocal performances. “Some Things…” is a suffocating audio experience from start to finish.
“Some Things Have To Be Endured” expands the conceptual horizons that Leech laid down in previous Theologian releases. It is a distillation of what was achieved with “The Chasms Of My Heart”, an amalgamation that proves maddeningly effective while flawlessly marrying melody and brute force. The addition of guest vocalists allows the compositions to become something more variegated while retaining the unwavering darkness at Theologian’s core.
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