• Best of 2021
  • Monthly Missive
  • Columns
    • A Gift to Artwork
    • Cool People Column
    • Death’s Door
    • Doomsday
    • Editors’ Picks
    • Genre Genesis
    • Grind My Gears
    • Into the Pit
    • Kvlt Kolvmn
    • Post Rock Post
    • Rotten to the Core
    • Unmetal Monthly
  • Genres
    • Metal
      • Black Metal
      • Death Metal
      • Doom Metal
      • Grindcore
      • Metalcore
      • Post-Metal
      • Progressive Metal
      • Stoner Metal
      • Sludge Metal
      • Thrash Metal
      • Trad Metal
    • Rock
      • Art Rock
      • Hardcore
      • Indie Rock
      • Math Rock
      • Post-Rock
      • Progressive Rock
      • Psych Rock
      • Punk
      • Shoegaze
      • Stoner Rock
      • Synthwave
    • Classical
    • Electronic
    • Folk
    • Hip-Hop
    • Jazz
    • Pop
    • R&B
  • Reviews
  • Listen To This!
  • Podcast
  • Store
  • Contact
Search
Heavy Blog Is Heavy logo
  • Best of 2021
    Featured
    • Heavy Blog's Superlative List for 2021

      Eden Kupermintz
      January 17, 2022
      Best of 2021, Lists!
    Recent
    • Yearly Missive // 2021

      Eden Kupermintz
      January 17, 2022
    • Finding Meaning In Meaninglessness: A 2021 Survivor’s Guide

      Nick Cusworth
      January 17, 2022
    • Heavy Blog’s Top 50 Albums of 2021

      Heavy Blog
      January 17, 2022
    • A World In Which Music Exists – 2021 In Review

      Eden Kupermintz
      January 17, 2022
    • Kvlt Kolvmn // 2021 In Review

      Scott Murphy
      January 17, 2022
    • The Prog-nosis // 2021 In Review

      Eden Kupermintz
      January 17, 2022
  • Monthly Missive
    Random
    • Monthly Missive // December 2021

      Eden Kupermintz
      December 7, 2021
      Monthly Missive
    Recent
    • Monthly Missive // June 2022

      Eden Kupermintz
      June 13, 2022
    • Monthly Missive // May 2022

      Heavy Blog
      May 5, 2022
    • Monthly Missive // April 2022

      Heavy Blog
      April 7, 2022
    • Monthly Missive // March 2022

      Heavy Blog
      March 3, 2022
    • Yearly Missive // 2021

      Eden Kupermintz
      January 17, 2022
    • Monthly Missive // November 2021

      Eden Kupermintz
      November 10, 2021
  • Columns

    Recent

    • Doomsday // June 2022

      Pete Williams
      June 13, 2022
      Doomsday
    • Post Rock Post // June 2022

      Eden Kupermintz
      June 13, 2022
      Post Rock Post
    • Kvlt Kolvmn // June 2022

      Jonathan Adams
      June 13, 2022
      Columns, Kvlt Kolvmn
    • Rotten to the Core // June 2022

      Calder Dougherty
      June 13, 2022
      Rotten to the Core
    • Death's Door // June 2022

      Jonathan Adams
      June 13, 2022
      Columns, Death's Door
    • Editors’ Picks // June 2022

      Heavy Blog
      June 13, 2022
      Editors' Picks
    • A Gift to Artwork
    • Cool People Column
    • Death’s Door
    • Doomsday
    • Editors’ Picks
    • Genre Genesis
    • Grind My Gears
    • Into the Pit
    • Kvlt Kolvmn
    • Post Rock Post
    • Rotten to the Core
    • Unmetal Monthly
  • Genres
    • Metal
      • Black Metal
      • Death Metal
      • Doom Metal
      • Grindcore
      • Metalcore
      • Post-Metal
      • Progressive Metal
      • Stoner Metal
      • Sludge Metal
      • Thrash Metal
      • Trad Metal
    • Rock
      • Art Rock
      • Hardcore
      • Indie Rock
      • Math Rock
      • Post-Rock
      • Progressive Rock
      • Psych Rock
      • Punk
      • Shoegaze
      • Stoner Rock
      • Synthwave
    • Classical
    • Electronic
    • Folk
    • Hip-Hop
    • Jazz
    • Pop
    • R&B
  • Reviews
    Random
    • Fit For An Autopsy - The Great Collapse

      Ryan Castrati
      March 7, 2017
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Coheed & Cambria – Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind

      Jimmy Rowe
      June 13, 2022
    • Artificial Brain – Artificial Brain

      Ahmed Hasan
      June 3, 2022
    • Astronoid – Radiant Bloom

      Jimmy Rowe
      May 27, 2022
    • Moon Tooth – Phototroph

      Eden Kupermintz
      May 5, 2022
    • Path of Might – Deep Chrome

      Eden Kupermintz
      May 5, 2022
    • Atoll – Prepuce

      Bridget Hughes
      May 5, 2022
  • Listen To This!
    Featured
    • Hey! Listen to Let Us Prey!

      Joshua Bulleid
      July 28, 2020
      Listen To This!
    Recent
    • What We’re Really Listening To – 7/1/22

      Scott Murphy
      July 1, 2022
    • Release Day Roundup – 7/1/22

      Scott Murphy
      July 1, 2022
    • Release Day Roundup – 6/24/22

      Scott Murphy
      June 24, 2022
    • Hungarian Post-Rock Trio Torzs Return For Another Visual and Aural Feast With “Atfordul”

      David Zeidler
      June 22, 2022
    • What We’re Really Listening To – 6/17/22

      Scott Murphy
      June 17, 2022
    • Release Day Roundup – 6/17/22

      Scott Murphy
      June 17, 2022
  • Podcast
  • Store
  • Contact
Home
Reviews

Bellrope – You Must Relax

Jordan Jerabek
February 19, 2019
Reviews

“You must relax.” It’s the kind of instruction that strives to inspire comfort and ease. But… it’s just not quite the best way to go about it, right? Demanding it? C’mon now, that’s something that’s really only ever said to someone in a panic, someone incapable of being reasonable. There’s a distinctively captor/hostage relationship to this phrase, maybe even a serial killer-y flavor in this command. It’s with this perversion of intent that Bellrope deliver YOU MUST RELAX (extra points for the soothing appeal of all caps on the album cover), a debut that evokes the exact range of emotions a phrase like that would hope to assuage. You Must Relax is tense, unsettling, and borderline anxiety-inducing in a masochistic kind of way.

Featuring members of German amp-worshippers Black Shape of Nexus, Bellrope continue down a similar path of teeth-rattling, amp-crumbling riff rock. This project, however, is consciously tilted toward the caustic bite of noise rock rather than the meditative sludge and introspective atmosphere. If you aren’t ready to inundate yourself with droves of sadistically punishing riffs, unforgiving barbs of feedback and salt-in-the-wound howls, you will not have a good time with this record. There’s really no good way to be “prepared” for something like this, and thus the opening feedback squeals and maniacal screams on “Hollywood 2001 / Rollrost” will hit your ears like a blinding light upon dilated pupils. This introductory track is certain to winnow less-curious listeners, but those who are able to weather the track will find that it serves as a twisted tone setter, akin to an out-of-context cold open. It’s not a “intro track” in the traditional sense, but the shock-and-awe function is certainly attention grabbing and is becoming as the album develops.

Notably, the group’s dual bass approach makes for an ever-heavy listen. It’s the kind of self-indulgent move that everybody jokes about doing, but Bellrope have a good grip on the reigns and prevent it from becoming too gimmicky or stale. Needless to say, there’s a ton of low end to be heard and felt across the record. Additionally, this setup enchrenches them in a riffy approach, though they remain surprisingly un-fatiguing. The bass tones contrast well enough that one doesn’t become an idle mimic and the songwriting truly delivers, slowly trickling out enough shifts with healthy dynamism to keep listeners on the hook. This is especially important as the tracks grow longer and longer, testing listeners’ patience. The seismic grooves of “Old Overholt” phase into meltier iterations, increasingly stomach-churning and layered with swaths of noise. The album’s title track continues down this path of gradually snowballing unease, this time with a stoner metal angle that feels like some twisted version of Beastwars with the post-metal and noise sensibilities of Old Man Gloom. Again, “TD200” maintains this violent plod, but not without introducing eerie melody into the fold with a stacked vocal approach which cools down the unruly violence to a despair-laden discomfort. Throw in some introverted noise breaks, unnerving samples, and punctuating drum fills to offset the hell-bent focus of the riffing, and Bellrope has suddenly become markedly deeper than what was revealed on the opening half of the record. The journey of You Must Relax begins to reveal itself as a pursuit of merging ridiculously heavy, patient, and punishing riffs with a variety of disturbing auditory malcontents.

Closer “CBD / Hereinunder” continues to turn the screws, closing out the record with a nearly 18-minute jammy leviathan that coaxes the guitar work out to the forefront where noisy solos carve through consecutive droney riff after riff. It’s in this realm that Bellrope seem to be fully formed, culminating into a climax owes a serious debt to Sleep and Sonic Youth alike, with a more direct, D.I.Y. feel than the psychedelic offerings of Boris. The evolution of You Must Relax is what becomes its most rewarding aspect. At first listen, the brutal repetition and groove can feel a bit burdensome and overwhelming, especially as every proper song is at least ten minutes long (and they only get bigger…). There’s little doubt about the sonic weight of what’s on tape here, but it’s not until the album wraps up does the full scope of Bellrope’s wit come to fruition. The intensity develops, their songwriting becomes further complicated and layered, and their sonic palette grows as the runtimes increase. This record doesn’t attempt to be a welcoming foray, but riff addicts will soak this up with a smile. I can only hope that the next effort picks up where this leaves off, because You Must Relax is giving me Stockholm Syndrome. I cannot relax.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2583863531 size=large bgcol=333333 linkcol=fe7eaf tracklist=false artwork=small]

…

YOU MUST RELAX is available from Exile On Mainstream Records on February 22.

BeastwarsBellropeBlack Shape of NexusBorisnoise rockpost metalpost-sludgeSleepsludge

About The Author

Jordan Jerabek

Behold, the power of cheese.

Related Posts

  • Coheed & Cambria – Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind

    Jimmy Rowe
    June 13, 2022
  • Artificial Brain – Artificial Brain

    Ahmed Hasan
    June 3, 2022

Patreon

Ko-fi

Podcast

All the Heavy Lifting

Latest Reviews

  • Coheed & Cambria – Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind

    Jimmy Rowe
    June 13, 2022
    New Jersey post-hardcore turned prog-infused pop punk giants Coheed & Cambria need no introduction at this point in... Read More...
  • Artificial Brain – Artificial Brain

    Ahmed Hasan
    June 3, 2022
    “In space no one can hear you scream” read the tagline for Ridley Scott’s Alien, as imposing as it was concise. Decades... Read More...
  • Astronoid – Radiant Bloom

    Jimmy Rowe
    May 27, 2022
    Established in 2012, Massachusetts-based at Astronoid built a cult following within a pocket of the prog metal communit... Read More...
  • Moon Tooth – Phototroph

    Eden Kupermintz
    May 5, 2022
    By now, Moon Tooth have garnered themselves quite a following in the progressive metal spaces. This is no accident; the scene is hungry for the kind of upbeat and unrestrained music that Moon Tooth is creating. Good news then: Phototroph is by far the band’s most energetic and “poppy” release, and I mean that in the best way possible.