Sightless Pit – Grave of a Dog LP Thrill Jockey Records

Sightless Pit may be a new name in heavy music, however its members are anything but, some of the most groundbreaking artist of the genre. Lee Buford (The Body), Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota) and Dylan Walker (Full of Hell) recorded their debut Grave of a Dog at Machines with Magnets with Seth Manchester (The Body, Lightning Bolt). Fans will recognize immediately Buford’s singular percussion and production, Walker’s venomous howl and Hayter’s virtuosic voice. The three share a bleak vision of existence and a willingness to follow each other into the musical abyss. The album recording process was extensive and intentional. Stretching over the course of two years, recording sessions by individual members shaped songs and continued to shape and inspire the next session be it by an individual or a pair. Walker describes the album’s core themes as being “about the anonymity of struggle, the darkness of a lifetime wasted warring against nature, god and everything else, only to be defeated… nothing… the end.” Throughout the album, Sightless Pit embody those struggles through building oceans of tension. A diversity of instruments and arrangements subvert expectations at every turn and bring new depth to each passage with the band utilizing samples of contra bassoon and Rufai mystic rituals while doing away with guitar entirely. Sightless Pit is a group of expansive ideas, extensive experience working together and shared vision. Over the course of the eight tracks, the trio reflect the extremes and emotional weight of theirworld view through elegiac dirges, driving beats, explosive crescendos. Together, three strong voices unite to create a work of remarkable clarity of expression of enormous sorrow, futility and most of all, beauty.