Subrosa - For This We Fought the Battle of Ages (Profound Lore) 2016
8
A sign of a great band is whether or not they can shake off the genre that birthed them and become one in their own right – Subrosa did this long ago. Battle… continues to hone their uniquely sorrowful chamber-doom, toying with concepts of heaviness and beauty as they ratchet up the volume while pushing Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack’s violins into more prominent roles, directing melody and tone as ably as the ample distortion does. It’s not so much an album as a collection of short stories set to a whirlwind of sound – death and rage and love and loss, each narrative unfolding with time and deliberation before reaching a conclusion that never gets any less devastating.