Great American Desert is simply put one of the most exciting unsigned bands I've ever heard. In relation to that fact however, this is music that definitely will attract a certain type of people, while at the same time completely alienating others. To quote the band's sole member, Jeremy "Xner" Christner, "this is music that people will either get, or not. With my music there is no real middle-ground."

Truer words could not be spoken; however, I'm going to have to recommend this to anyone I meet who is even remotely interested in metal. Let me elaborate as to why this short, twenty-six minute demo is such a revelation:

Jeremy refers to the music of Great American Desert as "hypnotic doom metal." The tag was interesting enough to attract my interest on a metal bands resource one day, and I've got to say "Hypnotic doom metal" sums it up pretty damn good. For the record though, this is what "hypnotic doom metal" sounds like; take the slow-paced meandering of doom, graft onto it eerie and trance-inducing Southwestern Folk and add some of the best black metal lyrics and vocals I've ever heard, with a pinch of uncompromising industrial beats and some clean vocals who vaguely hint of the Misfit himself, Glenn Danzig. The music is simplistic to the point of being almost absurdly bare; most will find this a turnoff, but for people like me the amount of space left by the simplicity of the music means that there is that much more free-thought to fill the spaces in with. Excellent for trances and large periods of meditative quasi-inactivity, Land of Tears seems to expand the scope of one's mind by presenting the least amount of complexity possible.

"A Goyim Prayer" is the "blackest" of the songs here, but for anyone expecting another Emperor album you might be sadly disappointed. "Goyim" sets an unnerving backdrop of slooooooow beat after beat on a drum machine; most people hate drum machines but in this context I find it very fitting. The constant, hypnotic repetition of the drum beats conjures the images of constant, hypnotic repetition of sand a lost desert traveler sees....until they succumb to exposure and cease to live. Xner whispers in a Trent Reznor-like moan before rasping like a swarm of bats with his EXCEEDINGLY fresh black metal vocals. The guitars play slow, wavering riffs of quasi-industrial sonics; think the guitars of Nine Inch Nails slowed to an agonizing crawl. The song twists into one final opus with a sinister organ effect and a few more vocals as those infernal drums march the listener deeper into the darkened bliss of the rest of the CD. "A Nocturnal Sadness" is one of the best songs here; it finds simplistic, airy, and psychedelic guitar notes floating into a moonlit sky as malicious whispers croon to the stars buried in one ebony night. This is the sound of sidewinders tracing indented trails of chaotic passing in the sand dunes, and scorpions dancing together while dripping their vile poison onto the barren Earth. 

"Demon of the Sky" is another excellent track; it also reminds me the most of Danzig. The song has a "psychobilly" vibe to it, at least until Xner stops lamenting in clean and mournful tones and decides to rip his lungs out with raspy sandpaper vocals over ominous doom tones instead. "Lamentations" will surely catch most folks off guard; the slowly building folk song features no distortion, few drums, and entirely clean vocals. Weird and melancholy, the song seems a tad out of left-field, but with each listen I like it a bit more and I'm starting to feel it does have some abnormal "black sheep" belonging on the disc.

"The Era of Black Holes" is my favorite song here; clean acid rock segues into ethereal yet blackened doom, and the song's fantastic clean bridge is probably the CD's best highlight. "A Crevice of the Holy" is droning hypnosis that leads into the soft, delicate and oddly spiritual "The Descent of the Sun." The plodding downfall of the song's chords and notes sublimely captures a Mesa Sunset, falling into another night of grim darkness.

Grim, openly Luciferian, and a master of melancholic philosophy, Jeremy Christner writes deep, authentic, and sorrowful lyrics of top quality. His minimalist approach will alienate many, but to those willing to brave his thankfully stubborn mantras, there is a real gem to be found in Land of Tears. This is what metal can sound like if its made in a haze of peyote without any pretensions of grandeur or conquering the world; why attempt to change a world full of humans to loathe? This medley of billowing misanthropy never once wavers from its mission of pure, bare-bones, and utterly freeing hypnotic doom metal. Its so simple in fact, you'll wonder if music will ever need complexity again. 

Great American Desert is openly pagan Natives walking the Trail of Tears in defiance rather than defeat; it is the sound of folk music in an alternate universe where the Vikings settled the Southwest rather than the Manifest Destiny Americans. It's black metal doing hits of LSD in the mesas of Arizona and New Mexico. Frail like the wind blowing through sun-bleached skulls, the music doesn't sound any less spiteful or dark. A fantastic choice for fans of slower brands of metal everywhere, Great American Desert are just what the Shaman ordered; blackened bliss to let your mind wander to. Utterly grand in any sense of the word.

Great American Desert - Land of Tears

Rating: (5 stars had it been longer)

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