Have a Nice Life - “Wizard of The Black Hundreds”

After receiving my copy of the newly reissued Have a Nice Life album Deathconsciousness the other day, I’ve been spending some of my more somber nighttime moments reacquainting myself with the rest of their discography. This slow burning, mammoth-like track is from the band’s followup to Deathconsciousness, a 2010 EP called Time Of Land, which is the only major work they have released since the aforementioned LP came out in 2008. The four-track EP represents both an expansion on and a departure from their previously established sound, branching out in new directions on some tracks and completely veering off course into uncharted sonic territory on others. 

“Wizard of the Black Hundreds” is definitely one of the ‘others.’ This monstrous entity sounds less like a song than it sounds like a melting glacier, seemingly breaking apart and bisecting itself ever so slowly multiple times throughout its 7:40 track length. Dan Barrett’s lyrics are even less discernable here than on Deathconsciousness, and his vocals too seem more shrouded by reverb and obscured by the crushing intensity of the instrumentation.

Instead, the focus on this track is shifted to the depressive power of repetition; “Wizard of the Black Hundreds” begins with as much sonic heaviness as it ends, and although it never seems to go anywhere throughout its duration, its hollow absence can be felt immediately after it ends. You’re going to want to hit ‘replay’ with this one. 

(Source: saveyourcrookedteeth)