Sire Languish – Pull To God Review

There’s a moment when listening to Pull to God, the debut EP from NYC’s Sire Languish, that makes you feel as if you’re being drawn into an endless tunnel of some sort. It’s spacious, incredibly atmospheric music, but unlike more organic (or goopy) death metal, this has the feeling of urban decay, of abandoned subway tunnels and municipal layers long forgotten. And the sense of being pulled is ingrained in every second of the EP (and in the name), with riffs and the heavily tom-and-bass drumming seemingly caught in a constant struggle of push and pull, all being brought back to that same focal point as the songs trudge forward.

Such an effect should come as no surprise to anyone that knows the work of sole member Garett Bussanick, who previously brought his talents as the vocalist and guitarist of Flourishing and currently holds the same roles in Aeviterne. The magnetic, almost gravitational drumming in particular will remind familiar listeners of his current band, but Sire Languish is somehow both more and less death metal than Aeviterne. More because this is a caustic, rather horrifying EP, full of dissonant dread and tortured, charismatic death yowl-growls. But less because Pull to God is also heavily influenced by Killing Joke and other post punk and industrial sounds, helping to give it that feeling of urban decay. The most common analog might be someone like Germany’s Valborg (particularly their later material), but in truth Sire Languish is doing something rather unique. Unique, and incredibly unsettling.

The effect is that mentioned up top, of a sound that somehow draws all of its various elements – textural riffs, rolling drums, cutting synths, haggard vocals – into a common center, while also allowing for a rather massive feeling of space. But it’s a space you can’t see, as if you’re stuck in that aforementioned tunnel and you can only see 15 feet in either direction, unsure of what horrors await you beyond that small radius of vision.

There are, however, some moments of respite, or at least the illusion that your sense of terror might all be a trick (beyond the simple fact that you can flat move your ass to this stuff). The end of the opening title track, for example, introduces a touch of melody as the song fades out, acting as a ray of light cutting through what had to that point been an incredibly dark track. “Sow of Nerves” likewise offers a touch of brightness in the form of some major key passages. But the latter is also coupled with some of the most tortured vocals on the record and drums that refuse to let up in their assault, proving that even when Pull to God offers a sense of relief from the darkness, there’s always something there to remind you of its true intentions.

There’s also a nice, if subtle, arc to these 24 minutes, all coming to a head in closer “Heaven’s Night,” a turbulent maelstrom of, yes, those hammering drums and particularly churning riffs. It’s a killer ending to a thoroughly engrossing debut, one that puts another rad project on Bussanick’s already impressive resume. So allow yourself to get pulled into the magnetic darkness of Pull to God. It’s a damn fun way to get scared to death.