Not to be confused with the defunct French post-metal band, Dirge hail from Mumbai, India. Like its French counterparts Dirge deals with post-metal in a variety of different guises from rousing, powerful waves of riffs to moments of spatial calm. Debut album Ah Puch was flavoured with influences of Mayan myths and South American jungles but the approach for this self-titled second album is a look through the members own personal pain and the disparaging world outside. Just as with the Amenra Mass series this introspection gives a gulf of impressive post-metal which is exhilarating and powerful.
With four tracks covering 45 minutes there are plenty of post-metal markers which are encountered on the album but nothing detracts from the tremendous structure, delivery and tone of the songs. Opener ‘Condemned’ has flicks of an Amenra build up on its opening and bursts well into the realms of Cult of Luna glacial crescendos but with a bit more warmth. It is completely unjustifiable to just pass it off as imitation though, much like the Hundred Year Old Man album last year, the culmination of post-metal influences are built into an incredible journey that is enthralling.
The vocals of Tabish Khidir are monstrous and convey a great sense of emotion and weight which is equally measured in the output of his four bandmates. Ashish Dharkar and Varun Patil switch from the Bossk hemp soaked riffs once ‘Condemned’ gets going to crafting a low pressure atmosphere in the early stages of ‘Malignant’ and ‘Grief’. I find that Cult of Luna can struggle in making quieter moments that engage attention but for Dirge nothing feels like it is dragging or pushed out. There is a natural flow and structure thanks to the rhythm section of bassist Harshad Bhagwat and drummer Aryaman Chatterji and that aids the quieter moments to remain in focus for the listener to make the quiet/loud dynamic so powerful.
Dirge is not a ground-breaking post-metal album, few are these days but it is highly entertaining and engrossing. The recording is rich, warm and vibrant and no doubt I will revisit this many times over the years. Where a breakthrough Indian band like Bloodywood overtly mixed Indian instruments and influence with nu-metal, Dirge is more subtle in its approach as its vein of post-metal is universal but the pain and emotion is something very specific to them. That allows this unique mix of influence and heritage to create so many memorable points throughout the album. Much like the Chora album release last month, if this isn’t amongst the top post-metal albums of the year then something exceptionally special will have been released.
