White Ward - Love Exchange Failure REVIEW

Sometimes the most revered artwork does not live up to its hype. Michaelangelo's mural above the Sistine Chapel, located in Vatican City, is one of the most admired and esteemed pieces of art in the world, but it did not live up to my expectations in person. A large room filled with noisy tourists is the last thing one would expect when they are to view this majesty, but unfortunately, that is what many (myself included) are greeted with. Explicit signs and warnings to be silent and to take no pictures, you can assume what my experience--and that of countless others--at the Sistine Chapel are like. While the art was fantastic, the atmosphere surrounding it  was not right for the piece to be enjoyed to its fullest. However, other art overperforms in its grandiose and magnitude. Picasso's Guernica, on display in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, is not a painting my younger self would have expected to be so enamored with. Viewing such grotesque and violent imagery in a setting with few individuals and intense silence was more breathtaking than I could have ever imagined. It was also, admittedly, pretty fucking metal.  

Ukranian post-black 5-piece White Ward released their debut, Futility Report, in 2017. An astounding release, it encapsulated everything great about experimental black metal. The work featured crushing instrumentation, apt industrial samples, and even tasteful and novel  use of saxophone. While it did not garner immediate success among the larger metal community, that release was reviewed positively among many metal columnists and journals. I enjoyed this release quite a bit, as it was strange, catchy and well-made. However, there is no way I could have been prepared for their 2019 followup, Love Exchange Failure. It is extremely difficult to quantify everything done right on this record, because it seems like each second of this 67-minute release is curated to meticulous perfection. The first four minutes of the first song (the title track) has to be one of the best passages in music this year. A piano melody is repeated over distant, wailing sirens, which, after being joined by jazz-esque drums and a breathy saxophone, builds to an intense head. Power chords and intense drums leave room for the vocalist to cry pained screams as the tremolo picking and blast beats begin. Every time this song begins, chills run down my body, and when I first listened at 12:01am on its release date, I knew I was in for a real treat.

Every black metal track (meaning those over 10 minutes) is so close to perfect. While the occasional atmospheric outro might take me out due to personal preferences, the melodies and riffs on this album are unrivaled in terms of catchiness, emotion, and technicality. The bass groove underneath the riff in "Dead Heart Confession" pops and rumbles beautifully in the mix, and the "group vocal" sections on both that track and "No Cure for Pain" are both catchy and fun. The opening melody of "Poisonous Flowers of Violence" is extremely somber and emotional and translates flawlessly into the tremolo picking in the rest of the track. There are too many examples of how this album is nearly perfect. Each track is complex, involved and truly exquisite.

My quarrel with this album is singular and takes the form of "Surfaces and Depths", but 'quarrel' is perhaps not the best characterization. This is a haunting and seductively existential track, with eerie and spooky piano leads and basslines. The female vocalist is fantastic, and the saxophone breaks are elegant and sensationally top-notch. Although all of these aspects are wonderful, it breaks the flow of the album quite sharp. "Shelter" is a fine interlude around the halfway point of the album, and unfortunately, this track feels similarly meandering. These interludes don’t offer the same “oumph” the focal points do. They are fine and seem to adequately execute their purpose in the tracklisting, but something distinctive is lacking. Though, in the grand scheme of this album, this is a minor complaint, as the focal tracks are just that strong.

"Uncanny Delusions" is one of the best black metal songs of the year (along with the many other tracks on this album), and is a perfect closing track to this album. Ivan Kozakevych's pure baritone is forlorn and depressed, and his Eastern European timbre is a rare and welcomed occurrence in metal. His short 2+ minute performance on this cut is not to be overlooked. The slow, groovy section which follows keeps the vibe cool, but also works wonders in leading to the “trve” black metal section. Sinister as ever, this track showcases brutal tremolos and ferocious blast beats with just enough melody. The 'trope' of White Ward's use of the spoken word in their music occurs twice on this song alone, once around the halfway point of the track, and the other at the end, and both only seek to complement this intense track. The first leads to a mini climax of group vocals and intense tremolo intervals, and the second ends of the album in a frightening conclusion, with a woman shrieking, "I love that he hurts me." This repeated phrase is accompanied by a lo-fi 40s-esque oldies sample and leaves the listener confused and scared. These aspects, of course, are only to compliment the amazing and intense black metal that plays underneath most of the song.

I did not expect to love this album so much. My first listen to this album left me breathless, and every spin after that has been only more engaging and wonderful.  A bitter and powerful release, White Ward take their formula explored on Futility Report and master it. We have talked about so much good metal this year, and black metal in particular. Additionally, claiming a release to be the album of the year without the month being December is somewhat fruitless, so I will not make such claims. However, I will state that Love Exchange Failure is a tough competitor for that spot. With so much great music this year, this album is exceptional and will be seen on many Top 10, 25 and 50 lists. Watch for it, and watch White Ward explode with success in the coming years.

Final Score: 'Urge me hard on fixing the rope'

Favorite Tracks: "Love Exchange Failure", "Poisonous Flowers of Violence", "Dead Heart Confession", "No Cure for Pain", and "Uncanny Delusions". Yup, five.

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