New Jersey’s BARREN arrives with its debut, The Hanged Man.

‘Unheard’ begins with the all-too-common sound of the church bell, winds blowing in the darkness, and a wail over a plain – but still somehow interesting – chord structure. There’s a feeling of an extended prelude here, though, as a true song never takes shape. Vocalist/guitarist/bassist Andrew Campbell does seem to be desirous of some sort of purging, and his delivery is understandable, while carrying the burden of desperation.

There’s something of the Akron – Cleveland, OH sound in ‘Death Interrupted’, bands like ULTRALORD and FISTULA coming to mind in both temper and subject matter, benefitting from an abrupt tempo shift about halfway through into IRON MONKEY devastation, while ‘Ruminations’ marries early SLOW HORSE (but better) to a syrupy, brown groove; here it becomes clear that Campbell could stand a bit more experimentation with different guitar tones, especially nearly halfway into The Hanged Man.

‘L’appel du Vide’ provides such, wending into HARVESTMAN territory briefly, spoken word over Nick Bonsanto’s impressive percussion work and drumming, as a slight black metal edge rasps through Campbell’s throat, the tune building and building to an effective climax over its nearly twelve minutes of sludge-infected doom, hectic outburst, and a slight nod to TYPE O NEGATIVE [5:27-5:48].

Closer ‘Among The Pines’ continues the formula of slow, subdued beginning to songs that BARREN seems to default to, but effects-laden guitars and primitive as fuck drumming over a death-ish bellow will never go unenjoyed by these ears, and the twosome has doubtless been listening to all the right bands and albums for inspiration given their knack for taking what shouldn’t hold the attention and arranging the material in such a way that it does exactly this.

Still work to do, for sure, but The Hanged Man is a bold first outing, and impressive in that the duo of BARREN is already in search of a sound to call their own.
Review By: Lord Randall

BARREN
The Hanged Man
Skull House Records