Weakling
Dead as Dreams
[Tumult]


Suffocating, depressing, and paranormally neverending, this black metal band from San Francisco has somehow managed to fuse together the most raw and primitive aspects of Darkthrone with the shattering avant garde era of Swans. Dead as Dreams is another one of those devastating rare classics that makes written justification an almost impossible task. Ultimately comprised of only 5 horrifying and twisted tracks, the torturous masterpiece runs over 76 minutes long, and every second is a stumbling footstep of pain.

Weakling have gained some notoriety lately for several reasons. The first is their blatant upstaging of Mayhem and Enslaved (not a major accomplishment these days, but regardless) when they had the "honor" of opening for both bands. Secondly, various rumors have been cycling about the availability of this debut - supposedly the band only wanted to originally release one copy; not only that, but Tumult developed some sort of hair-brained notion of issuing treasure maps to those that wanted to purchase and forcing them to go on a scavenger hunt. Lastly, and probably the dominant reason, is the involvement of Josh Smith from The Fucking Champs (a band that you would also do very well to check out - technically ferocious and almost pure instrumental math rock, relying on unpredictable time signatures and symphonic waves of percussion-driven mastery) and his subsequent touring which consequently draws attention to his and the other band members' side projects. Regardless, whether the band cares about the recognition or not, they definitely deserve it.

The music on Dead as Dreams is characterized by a dual attack of haunting and treble-oriented guitars leading a chilling keyboard setting. Weakling create an environment that can be paralleled by very few bands, using each instrument to its full effectiveness, including a hypnotic and spellbinding undertone of drumming that adds an overly mesmerizing aura to these fucked-up twenty-minute song structures. The vocals are anguished and tormenting screams, typical of some of the early nineties Scandinavian monuments; however, there is definitely enough originality here to create somewhat of a unique sound. I can safely say that Dead as Dreams will not only be a pleasant reminder to many but a novel refresher as well.

Weakling are so far ahead of the general crap streamlining out of most countries today that I can't even begin to give them credit. It is a true tragedy that this phenomenal act decided to call it a day, although there does seem to be some interest for possible future revival. One can only hope.

Suggestions for ordering: www.freneticrecords.com or www.midheaven.com .


© 2001 hando