Built from the bones of post-metal stalwarts Sarin (Prosthetic Records) and with members of Guelph’s Teleportoise and London, UK’s Fuckjar, Toronto’s BIG PIT offer a more urgent take on the genre of their predecessor. Equal parts uplifting and bludgeoning, the quartet aim to paint a fuller picture of the human experience than is often reflected in metal. Songs can be joyous and energizing at one moment; scathing, off-kilter and ugly the next.
Bend in the Rift makes this “full story” intent imminently clear. The record encapsulates the struggle between the higher and lower parts of the psyche–one embodying grace and compassion, the other intent on destroying them both. The band’s dual vocalists ride the music’s shifting sands, deploying unusually direct lyrics that generate hope and inflict harm in sporadic measure: Opener “Careening” abruptly smacks the listener with a demand for radical self-acceptance, while songs like “Hole is Deep” and “Slur” audibly plumb the depths of obsession and self-harm. Fans of Justin Broadrick, Aaron Turner and other artfully-dense metal will find the post-metal label tastefully subverted, with just enough familiar ground to feel at home.
Tied together by a tonal density that makes any live show a test of will, BIG PIT constructs a journey through places heavy music seldom goes. They wet their beaks with a small Midwest U.S. tour this summer, sharing the stage with Holy Fawn, Kowloon Walled City, Cloakroom and Zao at POST Fest and other independent festivals. They’re currently in post-production as they plot a supporting east coast CA/U.S. tour for spring 2024, and a European tour with some new friends the same summer.
credits
released February 10, 2024
All music written and arranged by BIG PIT.
Recorded by Simon Larochette at the Sugar Shack in London, ON. Mixed by Matt Bayles at the Red Room in Seattle, WA. Mastered by James Plotkin at Plotkinworks in Bethlehem, PA. Produced by BIG PIT.
Artwork by Adam Ujhelyi, with layout by David Wilson.
BIG PIT is Adam Ujhelyi, David Wilson, Matt Dakers and Spike Lindsey.
supported by 5 fans who also own “Bend in the Rift”
Do you like ISIS? Miss em? Then get this! Once you get past the obvious ISIS worship on display here, you get a pretty solid post-metal album. Highly recommended. Michael Kaczmer
A ferocious display of blackened stoner-doom from Moscow's Moanhand, who offsets moments of bleak ugliness with clean, haunting melody. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 23, 2021