Album Review: Rotten Fruit;Regular Orchard by Portal to the God Damn Blood Dimension (No Funeral Records, I Corrupt Records, Ripcord Records)

Rotten Fruit;Regular Orchard is the first piece of music written for and recorded by the full ensemble.

Portal to the God Damn Blood Dimension’s Rotten Fruit;Regular Orchard is 34 minutes long in total but containing juts two tracks starting off with an over 20 minute long journey titled Want. Strap in and be amazed at what follows. Gently building in with a sorrowful haunting orchestral melody, the scene is well and truly set through the vibrating tones. There is a folk like feel to the sounds and they tug gently on your heart strings. A melancholic guitar joins the sounds as clear and concise spoken word delivers poetry before layers start to arrive, building the tension in the song as orchestral meets guitars and shouted spoken word takes over.

In comes the drums as the vocals turn to a more hardcore growl, full of passion and aggression and blending in with the multi facetted musical style. From the folk like start, through poetry and into an atmospheric post hardcore sound, the transition has been seamless and entertaining though complex and requiring focus. Being less than half way through, I can’t imagine how many more steps we will take on this path, nor where we will arrive at. The desperate sounds drop away leaving us in a deeply emotive section with more spoken word and gentle instrumentation. It sucks you in, while also always feeling like there is an element of threat behind each note.

The addition of a choir is a hair raising moment of dark beauty and soon after leads us back into an impassioned explosion of grandiose music, a twinkling lead guitar and aggressive roared vocals. The aggressive blend, balances dark and light perfectly before again playing with us and dropping us down into the intricate instrumentation backed with poetic spoken word. It builds, and builds, in volume, tempo, layer and feeling before the intensity washes over you in a wonderfully strange mix of hardcore, atmospheric black metal and almost jazz feel to the horn section in the background continuing on to the close in a melee of intricate layers forming a sound that is worthy of pitting too, as much as sitting in a dark room contemplatively.

The relatively short, in comparison Ashes closes out the album and is a mere 14 minutes in length. Shorter, it may be but the level of creativity is still very high in a track that weighs heavily on your emotions. The gentle plucking start acts like a weighty shroud, pulling you down into your thoughts. The poetic delivery of spoken word recites deep and desperate passages that fit snugly in to the oppressive feel of the melancholic music. Like an inner monologue of the depressed and repressed, it may be subtle but it shakes you to your core. Meticulously placed instrumentation adds passionate touches, increasing the intense feeling that pours into your ears.

The aggression level increases as the vocals turn into two layers of shouts, at first together and then slightly behind like an amplified echo. Despite it feeling impactful and intense, it always sits on a bed of morose and moody emotion. Occasional touches of melody offer slight rays of light – a helping hand trying to pluck you from despair. As the music jumps in volume again, you feel a ray of sunlight peak through the grey clouds as hope slightly, just slightly reveals itself from the shadows. My mind is well and truly blown.

Rotten Fruit;Regular Orchard is not something that can easily described using mere words. So much of this release came to me through feeling, through different emotions. I have often seen music, especially in our scene, described as a journey – an adventure – but rarely have I ever felt it to be this true. Both tracks are perfect. Absolutely perfect. Every single second of each movement hits exactly the right spot pulling your emotions in every direction imaginable. It requires and deserves focus and investment but the return is worth every second of dedication.

Rotten Fruit;Regular Orchard is a genuine masterpiece Portal to the God Damn Blood Dimension is a unique and truly exciting prospect. You absolutely must listen to this gem.

Grab yourself a copy now, from here. That’s where I am heading to right now.

Portal to the God Damn Blood Dimension Links

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