Rote Mare Dissected

Sarah In Ruins

Not many doom projects succeed at channeling despondency, but the few that can are gems in a sea of droning bass tracks. Consequently, anything titled “In Ruins” is pretty much guaranteed to be pensively dark. This two disc demo was released in January 2008 by Rote Mare, based in South Australia, when it was still a one-man project.

Tracks on both discs have the same make-up with songs ranking comfortably over the five minute mark. What gives these songs an emptiness (the feeling of sitting in an empty parking lot alone on a chilly night with a full moon gazing aloofly upon you as cars pass by nosily on the interstate) is the guitar with it’s rhythmic work, some acoustic interludes, vocal work, and the lyrics. Since you can understand most of what’s being said, the words add a lot of meaning to the music. It’s main theme is criticism of self, humanity, society, and religion. Vocals are very expressive and you can tell that he put himself into it; like giving you a personal piece of himself aside from the intimacy of the music itself.

Humanity is just a wasteland.

Songs that cut the most would be “In Ruins,” “Damnation,” “Blood Cross” and “The Fall.” They have just the right mixture of melody with heaviness so that the melancholy carries over and is accentuated by the heavy drone portions. Yet, I have a personal affinity for “In Ruins” since it was the first song to make me feel anything while listening to this demo.

Ignorance and Fear
They will blind us

This set would be good chill-out music if it weren’t for the heavy feeling that it gives me. Music like this serves to add another accent to whatever shitty mood I’m in so I enjoyed replaying it for these past weeks. It allows you to get lost in the feeling and forget about what caused it.

You can buy part 1 here and part 2 here.

Nick’s Sorrowful Path

“Sorrows Path” – a monstrous EP that’s covered in pure electricity from head to toe. Rote Mare are slowly becoming one of my favorite Doom bands in recent years and with a release of this caliber, you’ll see why. With only 2 tracks on this release, spanning over a time period of 18 minutes total, you get the full wrath of what Rote Mare casts upon you.

Glamorous riffs that make you feel as mighty as God himself, “The Path” is executed with such force and pure ravage brain power. Calm yet dusty winds are what this track is filled with, at least until the 7 minute mark that is. Once the best is released to play, he comes to play with fire and hell itself. Imagine a battle between demons and angels, just a pure bloodbath with curses being thrown down on the humans below as they watch. That’s what “The Path” is, except a hundred times worst. A tunny full of rats, horrible aroma and lightening crashing down as you rush towards the light, welcome to “Song of Sorrow”. As the tide rises and you seem to be trapped in a maze of confusion, the whispers of blasting guitar riffs slam down from the heavens. “Song of Sorrow” is the type of track that could crush a whole un-forsaken city by itself if it wanted. As the solos of this track shatter windows, drum tempos of gloom and heaviness shake the skyscrapers.

I could go forever about how this release is something kings would listen to, I won’t though. Two words describe this EP: haunting and rabid, sort of like a ghost that stalks it’s undead prey. If you want jaw dropping Doom that will make you drool all over your shirt, pick up “Sorrows Path” right now.

You can buy it here.