‘You use your words as weapons’
I have to be honest, the end of last year for me was utterly crap, it left me mentally and physically exhausted and although I was still attending events, I could not manage the write ups, so apologies to my industry peers, bands, venues and all concerned.
The album I’m bringing you today has been in my inbox for a while, again I’m really sorry for the delay, but I feel it is one I cannot overlook.
A quick scan of the track list and what instantly grabs me is the title song and the way it is written. What you see is ‘A Place For Those Who Suffer, Alone’ and it is the strategically placed comma that gets me, it hits me with feelings of isolation and abandonment. It is as if there is a place, a room for those who either cannot or do not want to share their sorrow. They are met with the miserable odds of being shoved mercilessly through an angstloch – the hole of fear – and into an oubliette.
Three songs in and we have a spoken segment ‘All Of Our Desires’ it is eerie, and I feel these are the words that are embodied in the album cover art. There is only so much a person can take; how we negotiate and manage our pain is the issue. Some bury themselves in their own thoughts, some are quicker to share and try and find someone to talk to. The physicality of the explosion defines the convoluted and contorted disorientation residing within us.
We are what we carry.
The track ‘Weaponised God Complex’ immediately reminds me of the mandatory confession statute which thankfully declined over the years. Religion is often driven by the threat of severe punishments and having the gates of Heaven slammed shut in our faces.
This teetering on the edge existence is propelled further as we are ‘Ruined By Grief’ an emotion that can leave some of us is an impossible situation, it is difficult to remain positive all the time. As humans we are inclined to display a variety of traits from kindness to cruelty, from weird to wonderful and from bizarre to beautiful, within this remit we are also destined to suffer betrayal, mistrust, anger and bewilderment at the behaviours we see. The blatant nonchalance and non-acceptance of responsibility, for me, is a most wicked and monstrous feature.
Survivalist are Gavin Sharp – vocals, Nick Butcher – guitars, Lee Shaw – bass and Rhys Fraser on drums all diving into the blender and producing a most noxious and non-conformist smoothie, I dare you to down this in one, go on then!
We will all take something from this album, let it be positive, let it be something that will help to care and share. The question ‘How Can I Stop Thinking About Death?’ will always remain purely because of the certainty of the prospect, before that surely, we can limit the negativity and baselessness that has permeated our bodies and our minds.
Be kind, my friends.
Azra Pathan
Survivalist – A Place For Those Who Suffer, Alone out now.