Album Review/ Artist Close-Up: LOOM

When you take four years to make a self-titled debut, you better make it grand. Loom being a band that is not about grandeur as much as guts has thus made the gutsiest debut. In 10 tracks, an sonic aggression is thrusted upon you, of which grunge-punk/ heavy metalers will SALIVATE at the opportunity to hear this noised punch.

With songs like “Bleed On Me”, “Barbed Wire”, “Seasick”, and “Slowly Freezing Heart” , you can tell by title that this album is about writhing in pain. Lyrically and sonically, it feels like a vacuum of darkness has opened, and Tarik Badwan is its carrier. Of course, such a notion may not appeal to some people, and may even sound too raw and shrouded to be a “good” music. Yet, when you think of hurt, especially true, spiritual anguish, it can feel like an internal vacuum is sucking the life out of you. Badwan’s voice is gratingly good, and matches well the world of punk metal by driving emotions such as rage and desperation like a knife through a steak. He cuts and bleeds his vocal chords for belting power in tracks “Hate” and “Leopard” because if there is one thing that pain cannot be; it’s gentle. While some say punk or metal is just “loud”, which again I never argue against, I think they miss the point of its loudness, of which Loom, a rising UK band, completely understands; the more quiet the pain is outside, the louder it gets inside. From anxiety to insecurity, if you do not releases you inner turmoils to the open they, basically, become like the 10 tracks of Loom’s self-titled debut. For me, being able to embody the vast darkness of one’s inner “darkness’ makes Loom oddly light. In a world that can be scared over nothing, but can be too fearful to approach something that is actually scary, Loom’s album is like hidden yell-box of thrashing guitars, drums, and keys. To press play is to have your soul scream a hardcore, visceral cry of exasperation. For More Information Loom Click Here.