Lo! - The Gleaners
With bands like The Amenta, Werewolves, Psycroptic, Faustian, Graveir, Ruins, SIK, Drugoth, Black Lava and Portal creating unique, dynamic and bone crunching music recently, the Australian metal scene is on fire, and that is naming just a few. One thing that the scene has never explored conceptually, at least on a broader scale, is its own backyard and the horrors that Colonialism and associated Western gluttony and privilege have cost the earth and the voiceless (including tongueless fauna). Sydney band Lo! has rectified that with a triptych of releases culminating with The Gleaners (2023). Beginning with The Tongueless in 2015; the four track EP sets the scene for the conceptual arc; it introduces the canvass of manmade extinction, world eating and animal cruelty and exploitation for which the following Vestigial (2017) and The Gleaners expand upon. The Tongueless is the band’s first recording with Sam Dillon, who is also the vocalist for death metal band Hadal Maw.
Lo!’s version of sludge metal is unique, incorporating Black and Death Metal as well as groove and hints of doom. If you take Neurosis out of the frame, dynamics and expansiveness are not often descriptors within sludge metal, however Lo!, particularly with this triptych has produced a piece of art that will take you on a powerful and violent journey, musically, emotionally, and conceptually. Lo! use leitmotifs and characters to great effect across the three releases. Marilyn Manson is worlds apart stylistically, but he is an artist that used a similar canvass early in his career, particularly on Antichrist Superstar through to Holy Wood, while Gallow’s Grey Brittain also inspired the type of songwriting that Lo! use here. The characters are otherworldly and at times mythological, yet they embody the horrors that humans and our so-called leaders commit, never learning from mistakes made. The leitmotifs and characters interweave between tracks and albums, particular on The Gleaners. The final screamed section on Megafauna from The Tongueless is repeated on Vestigial’s first track, Hall of Extinct Mammals, and a similar traverse occurs from Vestigial into The Gleaners. In doing so, Lo! lead us down a path to the slaughter yard, their own reflection of a Judas Goat/Steer and their duplicitous role.
A well written and carefully constructed conceptual record should take some time to fully appreciate, and Vestigial and The Gleaners are fine examples of that. These are records that deserve your time and attention, and it is highly recommended to invest in the lyrics. Vestigial is a gut punching follow up to The Tongueless, 42 minutes of power and fury with dynamic shifts and turns. Lo! take The Tongueless themes further on Vestigial, incorporating the monstrous ways of tyrants and usurpers, the grand deceivers and their fear mongering, Western bliss with technology plugging in humanity, biblical references with a Vulture Christ and paupers kneeling in dying churches. The London Blitz is recited as an interlude of sorts, and cold barrels are deep throated. Sam Dillon takes a lot of care with all elements of his craft, vocally and lyrically, and does a lot of research. If you take the time to read and absorb the lyrics (and artwork) then you will learn a lot of interesting things, and potentially go down several rabbit holes.
Wetiko: an evil cannibalistic spirit that takes over people’s minds, leading to selfishness, greed, and consumption – sound familiar?
Mammon: the evil influence of material wealth (biblical reference).
Judas Steers: A goat that mingles with sheep and then leads them to the slaughterhouse.
Rat Kings: a bunch of rats that become entangled by their tails, creating a monstrous rodent mass.
Vestigial: the part of the body that during evolution is no longer required, e.g., appendix, wisdom teeth or goosebumps as a vestigial act.
Gleaning: gathering grains or other produce left behind by reapers.
Salting the Earth: spreading salt over the land to prevent fertilisation.
The characters that Lo! hinted at on The Tongueless are provided names on Vestigial (Gods of Ruin, Judas Steer) and that characterisation is expanded upon throughout The Gleaners, culminating in a showdown of sorts with the final track Mammons Horn. The Gleaners, The Rat King, The White Worm Saviour, and The Caucasian Vulture all must pay their dues, as we should all be held accountable for our actions. The Gleaners is a violent album that on the surface provides us with very little hope, but underneath lies a search for freedom and truth. We are not in the hope business! The Gleaners is the conclusion to the triptych that expands upon the grotesque and abhorrent past of the white Colonial West. Musically, The Gleaners is a dense offering with a lot going on musically and lyrically. Our Fouling Larder kicks off where Gods of Ruin left us from Vestigial as a doomy guitar part is introduced, before trading off with blast beats and a powerful statement from Sam Dillon. Lo! are not the type of sludge band that densely pack everything into a pit of anguished fat noise. It is very heavy, but it is written in a way that allows each member space to perform their roles and contribute textures and undercurrents. Salting the Earth is a fine example of this with the track slowing down to allow Sam to deliver his sermon.
Deafening Bleats of Apathy showcases the groove that Lo! can weave into the mix, and it is each instrument that provides that momentum and passion – unlike our apathetic government following the recent Australian bushfires. The production deserves a mention on The Gleaners because it is the perfect mix of raw and live energy, atmosphere, grit, bottom end bass, and crusty powerful riffs with killer reverb. You can’t create a great record without strong contributions from an extended team, and those that assisted Carl Whitbread (main songwriter) and the band record and engineer The Gleaners and help it sound the way it does did a killer job, especially the mixing by Mike Deslandes. Rat King ups the pace into thrash territory, and the track is a vile summarisation of the grotesque misery that has been born from our sins, stemming from those upon the throne. The Gleaners (title track) is the centre point of the album, opening with a Werner Herzog sample, pleading harmony and humility. The groove is on point, and the track just builds and builds with Sam’s cadence and delivery perfectly complimenting the rest of the band, and the chorus is a thunderous section and one of the highlights in a year of many great extreme metal moments.
The album’s back end is equally as memorable as the front end. Pareidolia is as close as Lo! come to writing a Western ballad, yet it is still a heavy track with tormented vocals and a lurking, ominous and tense section leading into Sam ripping “each little tyrant with his little sign.” Cannibal Culture rumbles with a robust drum pattern over jagged guitars as a haunting soundscape threatens to immerse proceedings before the chorus tears the track apart, right down the middle. Mammons Horn is a seven minute closer that wraps the whole arc up. Musically, it opens in ferocious style, as heavy as the band have been, yet as the track progresses, it becomes more dynamic, shifting and turning. Beginning with a sludgy bass section, Mammons Horn builds momentum and atmosphere and then drops back into a doomy few minutes before guest vocalist Nick Rackham of Hadal Maw takes over, poignantly questioning whether we are condemned to a tedious path with absent gods laughing. Mammons Horn is a staggering end to a killer of a record.
Lo!’s songwriting and musicianship has undoubtedly improved across the triptych; evidenced by the stunning display of expansiveness, lyricism, and dynamics at play on The Gleaners, while simultaneously delivering infectious hooks and grooves. Yet, The Tongueless, Vestigial and The Gleaners should be experienced as a whole. I could be blamed for an Australian bias rating here, but I have listened to hundreds of records in 2023, the majority in the metal and extreme landscape, and I stand by my rating of this being my favourite album of 2023. Bloody killer mate!