Deadbird - Twilight Ritual (2008)

   Deadbird debuted as a sludge/doom band with an album, that was like an audience-friendlier version of sludge with stoner rock influences. Calm and simple melodic interruptions with clear singing turned their music further into a softer direction, and their music had a quite positive feeling compared to other bands of the genre.
   On their returning album "Twilight Ritual" better quality and heavier sound could be noticed, darker tone, and more desperate soft interruptions. All-round more effective than before, and the noisier sound pushed them closer to ordinary sludge, and gave a less bright frame to their message. The stoner influences are still there, and also the impression that tells that their music is more like uplifting than down-pulling, because it doesn't collapse under the pressure of unwanted life issues like sludge does in general by the assistance of intense self-destruction. At Deadbird there's hope and alwas some rise up after the downfalls. The atmoshpere is mainly responsible for that, because it has an emotional load, even if it's not so strong like at bands who enjoy to operate with similar effects. The atmosphere also became the part of the sludgy sound so much, that the two cannot be seperated. As one they've created a balance that reduced each other's intensity. "Twilight Ritual" isn't an ordinary album and could be enjoyable for the fans of the mentioned styles.