Post Death Soundtrack – ‘Veil Lifter’ [Album Review]

Vancouver-based psychedelic/doom/grunge duo Post Death Soundtrack will release their new album, Veil Lifter, on April 16. Veil Lifter revolves around heavy-duty basslines, sludgy guitars, and live-wire drums.

The album’s title—Veil Lifter—refers to an Eastern philosophic phrase, “lifting the veil of ignorance.” When the veil is removed, the delusion of deception vanishes, along with its ability to taint perception.

Veil Lifter follows on the heels of 2019’s It Will Come Out of Nowhere. Still, the upcoming album sees the band going in a new direction, that of doom grunge reminiscent of Alice in Chains, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, and The Stooges, as well as artists who are redefining heavy music for a new age – Russian Circles, Windhand, Queens of the Stone Age, and YOB.

Made up of Stephen Moore (vocals, guitars, lyrics), Jon Ireson (bass, additional guitars, production), and Casey Lewis on drums, Post Death Soundtrack released their debut album, Music as Weaponry in 2008, a blend of aggressive industrial elements and trip-hop surfaces.

Talking about Veil Lifter, Moore says, Steve: “The album is intended, as all my work is, to be completely uncensored, unashamedly dark, raw emotionally, and therefore, cathartic and freeing. It was literally written from deep within the shadows during nearly impossible times. Isolation, depression, addiction, chaos, burned bridges, health failures, and strangely, perseverance and the resilience of the inner witness. So, in many ways, it’s an invocation of protection and spiritual weaponry at a time when it was greatly needed.”

High points on the album include “The Die Is Cast,” conjuring up suggestions of Alice in Chains with its thick grungy guitars that infuse the tune with dismal foreboding. Moore’s edgy, rasping vocals imbue the lyrics with trenchant imminence. A soft, shimmering outro shifts the harmonics to dreamy textures, at once haunting and mystical.

Post Death Soundtrack, photo by Monika Deviat

On “Killer Of The Doubt,” Lewis’s finessed, potent drums recall the intricacy of Rush’s Neil Peart, while the wall-of-sound harmonics fill the melody with platinum, cutting layers of sound. There’s a wicked inflection to Moore’s vocals, a modulation that’s tight and chilling.

A personal favorite because of its visceral veneers of dark dread and Moore’s spine-tingling, chant-like vocals, “Icy Underground” conveys the feel of an indefinable malaise. “Immovable” opens on emerging doomsday tones topped by groaning vocals and then flows into a black-laced melody highlighted by Moore’s bleak, brooding voice.

The album culminates with “Hammer Come Down,” a muscular, powerful song seething with crushing guitars and vehement percussion. There’s a clotted, claw-like pressure to Moore’s vocals, giving the tune Jovian force.

Drenched in dangerous emotions and devastatingly viscous, Veil Lifter is akin to a sonic journey through Dante’s Inferno.

Veil Lifter Track Listing:

1. At The Edge Of It All (Intro)
2. The Die Is Cast
3. Killer Of The Doubt
4. Icy Underground
5. Arjuna’s Hunting Hand
6. Lowdown Animal
7. Tide Turns Red
8. Burrowing Down The Spine
9. Pin Prick
10. Immovable
11. Hammer Come Down

Run Time: 48:52
Release Date: April 16, 2024
Record Label: Independent