Pale Cremation “Alta Stranezza”

 

    The mastermind behind Pale Cremation, Matt Lasserre, is never one to simply hit repeat and put out the same monotonous sounding album. I would say that Matt is very driven on delivering music that features a variety of his musical influences. Also, his exploration into these thought provoking science fiction themes has really become a captivating quality on his most recent releases.  

    “Alta Stranezza,” might be one of his most bizarre and creative creations to date with its variety of musical styles blended together to paint an entropically futuristic vision. You could say that this album is like a Federico Fellini movie, but with a surreal science fiction twist that explores a dystopian world where humanity seems to be completely spiraling into insanity. Overall, Matt delivers a plethora of influences ranging from hard hitting doom riffs, to some new wave and synth driven sections, to even some 90’s industrial arrangements. I thought on Pale Cremation’s album, “Communion,” that Matt was really infusing more post-punk and new wave elements into the music, however, on “Alta Stranezza” he really takes it to a new level. 

There are five songs on the album with the opening song being close to twenty minutes long, which feels like a tip of the cap to his prog rock influences such as Rush and King Crimson. The first sounds you hear on the song are air raid sirens blaring to sound out a warning of what is to come. Right after the air raid sirens cease, Matt unleashes a crushing prog rock jam to take listeners on a rollercoaster of galactic musical chaos. Throughout the track I thought Matt added some really solid guitar leads and melodies to complement the heavy yet spacey sounding arrangements. Handling the drumming on the album is Anders V. Wienerholden who has worked with Matt before on past Pale Cremation releases. I think the production and recording of the drums is very well done and allows Matt to lay down some killer guitar work amongst the bombastic rhythms. Also, during the track Matt deviates from the slamming hard rock parts to offer listeners some out of this world synth compositions that make you feel like you are drifting into majestic cosmic realms deep in space. 

The second song on the album, “Termination Of Bio-Spheric Extremity,” contains a really HEAVY bass riff that I felt was a high point during the track, and reaffirms why Matt is known as the Bass Wizard. The third track, “Beyond the Dark Side of Science,” starts out with this very profound synth arrangement that almost sounds like it could be used at the beginning of a John Carpenter film with Kurt Russell walking down the street looking ready to kick some ass. During the song I liked when Matt started using a distorted vocal effect to deliver the lyrics as the music took on a very sinister industrial sound which was appropriate given the haunting lyrical content. 

On the fourth song, “Soul Wound (Phase V),” the music heads more into a synth heavy direction along with some other different sounding compositions. Actually, one of the arrangements reminded of something that you might have heard from The Police, which goes to show how this album is utterly diverse in terms of Matt’s musical influences. The last song on the album, “The Great Deluge of the Final Earth,” is a cataclysmic finale and starts off with a very heavy sounding guitar part. I felt as though the bombastic drum parts were extremely solid sounding and towards the end of there song the music begins to transition into a more trippy celestial style to conclude the mind-altering listening experience. 

Overall, what stood out the most for me on Pale Cremation’s “Alta Stranezza,” is that Matt has really become a master at incorporating all his different influences. Having followed Pale Cremation from the very first release as well as knowing Matt since his days as the bassist in bands like Scrape the Earth and Mournful Cries, I really do believe he has become a strong composer and his opened mindedness to different types of music can appeal to wide range of music fans. Also, unlike those bands and artists that are creating music to chase trends, Matt is a passionate fan going against the grain and bringing together all the different styles of music he enjoys to create his own unique sounding compositions which seems to sound more profound on each new album. 

Check out the entire album below : 

Pale Cremation Bandcamp:

https://palecremation.bandcamp.com/

Matt Lasserre “Jungian House Dream”

    The architect behind Pale Cremation, Matt Lasserre, invites listeners on a unforgettable dreamlike exploration through various post-punk/new wave, avant-garde and progressive rock arrangements on his solo release titled, “Jungian House Dream.” Once again, Matt demonstrates his diverse artistic mindset while traversing across these vivid sounding musical landscapes with such keen attention to detail. 

    Over the years that I have come to know Matt, I have witnessed him really expand upon his musical ideas with vigorous fascination, thus allowing him to compose some unbelievably creative sounding releases. “Jungian House Dream,” is definitely one of his most ambitious and out off this world creations to date, which is why I was instantly drawn to the release after hearing a preview track. The post-punk and new wave elements conjure up some very dreamy and space like atmospheres, while the progressive rock arrangements add a dynamic flare to the overall sound. 

    From the very start, the album dives deep into the world of dreams and human psyche with a strong emphasis on progressive rock ethos driving the creation of a lot of the instrumental arrangements. The opening song, “Love Pill Theme,” is very new wave sounding from the opening electronic noises to the mesmerizing layers of synth. Along with the synths Matt throws in some post-punk influenced guitar work, and the notes vividly ring out in such a hypnotic fashion. Compared to work in Pale Cremation, I felt as thought there was more emphasis was placed on the how he was able to bring together all these different sounding elements, especially since the music feels almost cinematic at times. The second track off of the album, “Couloirs De Terreur Et De Decadence,” continued to build-up the opening song's heavy synth emphasis, but also added some progressive/avant-garde rock guitar lead touches towards the end. 

    Of course, Matt does incorporate song heavier elements into the album and on the song, “Architectural Model of the Psyche,” he conjures up more of an old school Sabbath like sound, which I thought really stood out and happened to be one of my favorite pieces of music off of the album. The song’s main riff sounded truly monumental with its Iommi-esque sonically devastating sound that instantly captures your attention. On the song, “Visitation,” you can hear a more industrial/thrash metal edge featuring more adrenaline pumping distorted riffs of high octane aggression that slightly reminded me of Matt’s time in the band Scrape the Earth. Eventually the music mellows out and transitions into a more calming almost transcendental direction, which ties into the experimental synth arrangements that tend to be guiding the listener throughout the release at various points. 

    Throughout the album you are constantly enthralled by the various arrangements and different audio clips detailing human consciousness and the power of dreams.  “Jungian House Dream,” is an album that I find comes from years of unyielding passion and an individual’s desire to bring out musical concepts that they have fondly amassed over years of being a open minded artist. Matt really took his time crafting this album by making sure each guitar riff, bass line, and synth made a distinct impact, so in the end listeners can experience a release that does not sound like a lot of what you are hearing from the rock/metal world today. I would highly recommend people give this album a listen, especially if you are open to progressive rock music infused with some post-punk, synthwave, new/wave, as well as some metal touches from one creative individual. 

Listen to the entire album via Doom Zone Productions Youtube channel :

Matt's Bandcamp:

https://mattlasserre.bandcamp.com/album/jungian-house-dream

Pale Cremation “Communion [Soviet Tapes 1984]”

    Having snuck some recordings out of a secret underground base similar to the one from Resident Evil: Retribution minus the Russian zombie soldiers that knew how to operate motorcycles, Pale Cremation was able to obtain these never before heard recordings from 1984. Titled, “Communion [Soviet Tapes 1984],” the latest Pale Cremation album is one of the most diverse sounding releases to date and the plethora of different influences perfectly captures the dynamic mindset of the artist behind this release. 

    The mastermind behind Pale Cremation, Matt Lasserre, conjures up yet another out of this world sounding creation by bringing together a variety of different musical styles on each of the eight tracks. Pale Cremation’s early releases were very much grounded in old school doom metal and hard rock, but with the last few releases I feel as though Matt has incorporated more old school progressive rock elements into his music along with more experimentation with synths and ambient noises. On “Communion [Soviet Tapes 1984],” Matt really embraces the sci-fi horror world by composing some very cinematic synth arrangements that pays homage to the film scores from 70’s and 80’s sci-fi horror movies. The most notable movie being, John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is referenced on the tracks, “Mimic” and “Indistinguishable to Human Eyes.” During the song, “Indistinguishable to Human Eyes,” you can hear audio clips from the movie while Matt unleashes a decimating doom onslaught mixed with hypnotic synth breaks wedged between the heavy sounding riff barrage.  

    On this album, Matt has drummer Anders Wienerholden handling the drum parts and coming up with some punishing rhythms to complement the bombastic metallic sounding riffs. The opening track, “Walls of Ice,” is very surreal sounding with this frantic build-up of drums and guitar that seems to create an atmosphere of sheer terror and suspense. I would even say that there are some trippy industrial arrangements sprinkled throughout the album, which definitely strengthens the album’s sci-fi horror/government cover-up theme. “Indistinguishable to Human Eyes,” is a great example of a horrifying industrial/doom metal like track, especially when you hear Kurt Russell’s voice from The Thing being heard right before a savage arrangement shatters the soundscape. 

    Speaking more on the cinematic emphasis that seems to be very prevalent throughout the album, tracks like “Eldritch Prophecy” and “”Shodan,” are both very futuristic sounding synth wave style tracks that I could almost see being used as the music for video games. “Shodan,” especially reminded me of something from a haunting sci-fi video game, or even an 80’s horror film John Carpenter might have worked on, because the song has that utterly bewitching synth sound. For listeners who prefer more hard hitting riffs Matt has you covered with tracks like, “Malevolent Cosmic Forms” and “Communion,” that contain some heavy sounding psychedelic progressive rock structures. I have to say that, “Communion,” was one mind-altering listening experience and the lead guitar parts provided by Eric Doyle were down right mesmerizing as the notes rang out over the cataclysmic compositions. 

    Overall, “Communion [Soviet Tapes 1984],” has to be one of the most creative releases from Pale Cremation that vividly demonstrates Matt’s talents, as well as his eclectic musical influences. I think this album can be something a wide range of people will find fascinating given the mixture of heavy metal, progressive rock and synth wave used to strengthen the album’s themes about malevolent extraterrestrial lifeforms trying to overtake humanity. One day when the world meets it’s inevitable fate at the hands of some superior galactic race, they will discover Pale Cremation’s “Communion [Soviet Tapes 1984],” and realize that humans were not all useless sacks of insufferable crap like that damn Hawk Tuah Girl, or those douchey frat boy podcasters. 

Check out the entire album below via 666MrDoom's Channel:

Link to Pale Cremation's Bandcamp:

https://palecremation.bandcamp.com/album/communion-soviet-tapes-1984

Pale Cremation “EP VII: Consume”

 

As humanity becomes grossly enslaved to social media and technological advancements start to replace humans with artificial intelligence, we are going to need acts like Pale Cremation to remind us of the potential dangers that shall await humanity as all those brilliant science fiction films and books from the past become our new reality. 

On this brand new Pale Cremation release, “EP VII: Consume,” we see Matt Lasserre who is the mastermind behind Pale Cremation continue to explore more science fiction related lyrical themes, while taking the doom metal sound and adding a plethora of other elements to give the music a very dynamic sound. The early years of Pale Cremation were very much grounded in the old school doom metal world, however, with each new release you could hear the sound evolving and exploring Matt’s other musical interests. I think what really stands out about, “EP VII: Consume,” is how the lyrical themes address some very relatable topics pertaining to our society’s relationship with technology and how the digital age has impacted our lives. 

For the drum parts, Matt enlisted the help of Anders Wienerholden who proved to be a very strong addition right from the get go by making a deafening impact on the first song, “Anxiety Hivemind.” Actually, when I started listening to this new release and heard that main riff on, “Anxiety Hivemind,” I was blown away by how utterly aggressive the music sounded. I could hear a little bit of the nasty sounding riffs from Pale Cremation’s 2021 release, “Masquerade In The Violet Theatre,” but somehow the new music takes on an even more vicious and bombastic sounding approach. Throughout the entire song Matt’s guitar playing and bass playing delivers one fatal punch to the ears and even transitions into more  progressive/industrial metal sounding directions to make the musical landscape feel very entropic. 

The second track, “Nightmare Emulator,” definitely compliments the album’s science fiction theme by incorporating these haunting cinematic electronic noises. Also, the machine like pounding guitar riffs and drum parts create this surrealistic like environment where you start to feel like your mind is being completely altered by the bursts of cataclysmic distortion. I thought the song was an extremely creative instrumental track, which demonstrated Matt's willingness to push the music in new directions. 

The final song, “Goodbye to Everything,” was a clever conclusion to this nightmarish exploration into the sinister digital world that looks to control our minds and make us consume mindless content to become complete slaves to the corporate masters. If you were to ask me about the new release's sound quality, I would say that this is one of the best sounding Pale Cremation releases to date, especially the guitar sound on each of the tracks which was HEAVY as all hell. Overall, I would highly recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of monstrous sounding jams along with some really eye opening science fiction themed lyrics. I have to give credit to Matt as he continues to come up with some killer sounding releases. I'd recommend getting the kids off of that TikTok crap and start making them listen to some Pale Cremation, that way humanity might have a chance at survival when the machines take over. 

Listen to the entire release below: 

Pale Cremation Bandcamp :

https://palecremation.bandcamp.com/album/ep-vii-consume

Pale Cremation “Malevolent Cosmic Forms”

    Whenever the aliens decide to meet our leader they will not be asking for Joe Biden, but instead they will be wanting to meet, Matt Lasserre, the mastermind behind Pale Cremation. On Pale Cremation’s new release, “Malevolent Cosmic Forms,” Matt takes listeners completely off course by conjuring up some songs that sound as if they came from another galaxy far far away. 

    I would best describe Pale Cremation as a one-man doom act that throws in some other rock/metal elements as well, thus delivering a hauntingly groovy hard hitting sound to jam through your speakers. However, the two new tracks featured on this release sort of venture down a different musical path compared to previous releases, which I think makes the new music vividly jump out at you right away. Instead of classic sounding doom metal coming at you with thunderously monumental riffs, you are pulled into this chaotic sounding science fiction themed cinematic realm that is utterly unpredictable. 

    The opening song, “Malevolent Cosmic Forms,” is a sadistically warped musical creation featuring at first some death metal elements as well as some industrial metal elements to create a fearsome piece of music. Matt’s harsh distorted vocals confidently growl over the cataclysmic instrumental destruction to add to the hellacious sounding arrangements. All of a sudden the music stops and transitions into this cosmic hallucinogenic electronic atmospheric world where you feel as though you are floating through an alternate universe and are slowly melting away in the galactic oblivion.  

    The second song on the new release, “Phobos Lab,” is more of an electric cinematic composition that compliments the whole science fiction theme Matt has going on with the new music. If you were to tell me that this is where Pale Cremation would go musically after the first release, “EP I: Pale Cremation,” I would have thought you were crazy and needed to be locked up in the loony bin along with Charlie Sheen. After listening to this new music a few times I find everything to be very creative and really fascinating given the experimental nature which Matt decided to pursue on both of these new recordings. The following tracks definitely continue to focus on the cinematic electronic elements of the second song with the third track, "Shodan," reminding me of something you might hear from an 80's science fiction film. 

    On the album's fourth track, "Containment Zone," I could hear a lot of industrial elements that reminded me of industrial icons, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, especially the pertaining to the way the entropic electronic noises somehow come together to create a very hypnotic and catchy sounding atmosphere. The final song, "Salvation Initiative (Phase II)," is a very somber piece of music which is definitely a departure from the previous three tracks by putting more of an emphasis on this very eerie melody. I really liked the rough distortion setting Matt used and how it complimented the riff as the music eventually faded into the cold lifeless sounding void. The final noises you hear are these extraterrestrial like noises as if you have finally made contact with a species from another planet and in the end you wonder, why would anyone want to visit our toilet of a planet...

    I would highly recommend that people check out, “Malevolent Cosmic Forms,” if they are into extreme music mixed with some cosmic electronic noises that all come together to tell this surrealistic science fiction tale. Hollywood might want to reach out to Matt and get Pale Cremation to help score the next big blockbuster film, because they sure as hell need help right now given all the crap they have been putting out lately. Maybe Pale Cremation can create some music for my idea of a film, “The Day Barbie was Disintegrated by Visitors From Mars.” 

Check out the album via 666MrDoom's channel below :

Pale Cremation Bandcamp:

https://palecremation.bandcamp.com/album/malevolent-cosmic-forms

Pale Cremation "Masquerade in the Violet Theatre"

    Pale Cremation comes bursting out of the smoke filled catacombs with yet another blazing release! This one-man doom project from Cleveland, Ohio offers listeners an all out ceremonial riff fest with the release of, “Masquerade in the Violet Theatre.” 

    Matt Lasserre, the musical mastermind behind Pale Cremation, definitely knows how to throw down some heavy jams. From his time playing bass in the bands Scrape the Earth and Mournful Cries, Matt has always been a passionate player and creative musician. Even though there are only two tracks on this new release, listeners are still given plenty of wicked sounding riffs and catchy sounding slabs of haunting doom. Hell, there is even a song that goes on for about 19 minutes! 

    The first song titled, “The Burning,” is a scorching piece of feverish sounding doom mixed with some grunge elements. The song convey’s that rebellious and unapologetic attitude that gets people banging their heads and raising their fists. Hell, I think the Undertaker could have used this as his theme song during his American Badass run! In a world where there are few bands that are capable of writing a strong piece of music that leaves an impact, I believe that, “The Burning,” is the making of something really special. 

    The second track, “Masquerade in the Violet Theatre,” is definitely more of a doom metal odyssey and as I mentioned before, it goes on for about 19 minutes. Fans of Sleep and Om will definitely be drawn to the trippy slower compositions. Sometimes there are certain riffs you want to hear repeated, especially if the guitar and bass effects used give off that cosmic vibe that makes you feel like you are traveling through a psychedelic void where the distorted sounds slowly melt your mind. 

    Pale Cremation’s new release is definitely worth checking, as wells the band’s entire discography for that matter. Even though Matt does not have a major record label pouring thousands of dollars down the drain for him to record an album and waste expenses on gourmet cuisine and bowls of brown M& M’s, he is coming up with some extremely creative compositions. I really respect Matt’s creative vision on this new release, as well as his ability to avoid cranking out the same monotonous sounding doom tracks by experimenting with different arrangements and putting some enthusiasm into the overall mix. In the end, just another killer release from Pale Cremation and one that doom fans should definitely check out. 

Pale Cremation Bandcamp:

https://palecremation.bandcamp.com/album/masquerade-in-the-violet-theatre

Pale Cremation "Grimoire"

    Pale Cremation’s debut album, “Grimoire,” is a psychedelic doom journey through a trippy and heavy world of occult themed lyrics. The one-man doom band from Cleveland, Ohio cranks out some tasty jams of glorious doom with enough reverb and blasphemy to knock a god fearing Midwest granny off her porch.

    The album is rough, raw and pays homage to classic doom metal acts while still offering its own unique flair of savage riff filled debauchery. I like the heavily distorted and fuzzy sound of the guitars which adds such a groovy yet sinister element. The album begins with a blasphemous Lovecraft inspired sermon and jumps into the fiery second track, “The Serpent Mounds.” There is an emphasis placed on loud and bombastic riff compositions to where you feel each guitar and bass note hit you square in the gut.

    Throughout the album songs like, “Bastard Legions of the Devil,” and “Paimon, 8th King of Hell,” decimate your eardrums and deal out these monolith sized helpings of doom by never losing that pulverizing sound. The instrumental pieces on this album are also extremely well composed with my favorite being, “Monolith of Phobos.” The song’s dynamic atmosphere is a nice deviation from the other songs off the album and the overall sound creates such a cosmic euphoria that makes you feel like you are drifting into other dimensions.

    The final song, “Ceremonial Magicians of the Near East,” is long odyssey of pure doom drawing inspiration from bands like Sleep, Church of Misery and Electric Wizard. As the music flows in a hypnotic rhythm you just never get tired of hearing that main driving riff. The song is simply a really well written piece of music that does not sound sloppy, or comes at you with too many unnecessary parts.

    For a one-man band there is a lot to be said about Place Cremation’s, “Grimoire.” I like how this album was written and find that the artist has laid down a solid foundation to continue with more stellar doomy jams. If you are a fan of classic Sabbath like doom that will take you on a trip into smoke filled dimensions with demons and killer riffs, then you need to give this a listen!

Listen to the entire album below:

Pale Cremation FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/palecremation543/
Pale Cremation Bandcamp: https://palecremation.bandcamp.com/album/grimoire