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All Men Unto Me - Requiem

Juxtaposing harsh distortion and vocals to gorgeous choir arrangements, strings and organ, Ashenspire’s Rylan Gleave and his consorts beautifully twist the canvas of the Missa pro Defunctis into an altogether new and envelope-pushing work of wounded wrath and virile vulnerability.

24 days ago

I almost missed this one. Thanks to a timely reminder from our editorial giants, from the vantage point of their stalwart shoulders I became aware that the experimental project fronted by Ashenspire’s Rylan Gleave was in fact sitting in our promo vault. This, of course, needed someone’s urgent attention. As a great fan of Ashenspire and their powerful combination of avant-garde extreme metal and a fan of any heavy artist that isn’t afraid to wear their heart on their sleeve and fling their politics from the tip of their tongue, I felt compelled to cover the latest opus by All Men Unto Me. The project, which could be contentiously tagged as experimental noise rock with some sludge metal tinges, and include members of Maud the Moth, healthyliving, and Falloch, further accentuating its impressive pedigree, is also deeply indebted to choral and classical music. Juxtaposing harsh distortion and vocals to gorgeous choir arrangements, strings and organ, Gleave and his consorts beautifully twist the canvas of the Missa pro Defunctis into an altogether new and envelope-pushing work of wounded wrath and virile vulnerability.

There is already plenty to latch on to musically, without even being aware of the personal and emotional inspirations that nourishes the project, which is intimately tied to Rylan Gleave’s personal life and journey. Between the absolutely poignant, gorgeous guitar opening, string arrangements and vocals of “Pie Jesu”, which slowly unfolds into a magnificent, creased and crushed velvet installation and dark and foreboding follow-up “Sequentia”, the album's midsection is a definite highlight for me. The latter track opens on powerful vocals, transitioning from clean to harsh and everything in between on a dime. Buttressed by burly, sludgy guitar, bass and drum parts, Gleave’s desperate plea of “O Christ I want to feel alive” announces an excellent doom riff, proving that All Men Unto Me shine brightly both when moving themselves and their audience through more metallic territories, and when stepping out of them and taking up their space in the avant-garde. Throughout the album, I am reminded of Ashenspire in the idiosyncratic, equally razor-sharp and haunting vocal performance. Some of the noise-rock escapades, coupled with the album’s emotional resonance and deep sorrow bring to mind The AntlersHospice (2009), while the melodies might echo 40 Watt Sun and San Fermin. The stark, uncompromising emotionality invokes Lingua Ignota.

Requiem becomes even more urgent and arresting when taken in tandem with Rylan Gleave's personal story. All Men Unto Me as a project deals with yet extends beyond Rylan’s transition, the way the testosterone treatment affected his vocal delivery, and themes of patriarchy, (trans-)masculinity, religion, wrath and forgiveness. There is a beautifully brutal honesty here, present in both the way Gleave puts his voice, spellbinding but also scarred by his transition. The wounds he carries openly and in considerate defiance of judgement and patriarchy make Requiem an even more impressive and affective work, and the bravery inherent in this project and it's dealing with grief, vulnerability and what it means to be a man in these tumultuous times can only be commended and recommended. 

I have little in the way of criticism to offer here. While not each of the eight tracks has managed to nail me to the cross in delicious rapture as the ones mentioned above, that is most probably a matter of taste, since this album is somewhat out of my usual area of questionable expertise. The experimental nature of the project and its many and sometimes contrasting influences will certainly mean it is not for everyone. For those of you who are up for a mesmerising, vocal-forward album that bridges the gap between modern-classical, avant–garde/experimental music and extreme metal, I can highly recommend Requiem. Just be ready, for if you can connect to these themes and open your heart to the beautifully scarred metamorph standing strong before you, you might be left with some emotional bruises and cathartic stigmata. 

Boeli Krumperman

Published 24 days ago