MARE

Band: MARE

Genres: F'n Heavy / Post-Rock / Post-Hardcore / Post-Metal / Hardcore / Doom / Ambient / Experimental / Choir Singing? I dunno...
Related artists: ?.
Country: CANADA
Years Active: 2004-2005 + reunion
Song: "They Sent You"
Album: "Mare"
Year: 2004
Label(s): Hydra Head Records / Daymare Recordings / Translation Loss Records
This post's artist is from the September 2014 Mix. This is track #14.
You can download the September Mix#9 right here or get the new October Mix#10 here.
For fans of: Isis, Shahman, Shoto, Knut, Quiet Lakes, Mogwai, Radiohead, Boris, The End, Tool, Into The Moat, Between The Buried And Me, Dillinger Escape Plan, Mercy Ties, Warren Of Ohms, Buried Inside, Ken Mode, Pelican and Cannibal Corpse.

Okay, so apparently you can start a band, release a single EP on the massive Hydra Head Industries record label, tour with Pelican, Isis and Mono (among others) and then break up and be remembered forever as one of the most interesting and heavy bands in music. MARE did just that.

Hailing from Burlington, Ontario Canada MARE dropped a mere 4 (or 5, depending on how you look at it) songs on their only cd/12"EP but holy shit do they hit hard. Simply put, they are dark, doomy, massive, crushing and tormented tracks that mingle with other genres the way Dillinger Escape Plan did with their 'Irony is a Dead Scene' EP, but this is much slower and demonic with very fluid genre changeovers. The guitars wail to the point of sounding like the soundtrack to a murder scene or trudge along with extremely slow chugging riffs that bring on the doom, for sure, and then the next thing you know you are swaying along to some jazzy rock'n'roll.

The vocals are probably the most obvious and interesting part about MARE, although the instrumentals are very original and stimulating in their own right. The vocalist/guitarist shrieks like a bat, croons like an angel, bellows from the depths of his anus and can toss around some improvisational harmonized church/gospel singing.

So the self titled 'Mare' EP starts with "Anisette", which is fucking heavy as fuck. Anguished screams amidst dominate this very Pelican-sounding track.

"They Sent You" is the classic track with a beautiful clean vocal beginning that borders on a chant, which eventually leads to a pretty standard (by MARE standards, of course) and straightforward instrumental section that borders between heavy, uncomfortable and peaceful. Theeeeeeeeen there's the death riff at 4:14 MARE includes what I call the "murder riff", which would fit perfectly as a soundtrack to a death scene (probably an epic one). Seriously, how has this not been used in a movie or something? To close this craziness off, they quickly switch to and end on a jazz riff. That's a hell of a lot of moods in one track! I saw this song live when they went on tour with Pelican and Mono and they were the opening act but stole the show. The vocal harmonization at the beginning was even better than the heavier stuff and my wife and I were completely blown away.

"Tropics" is a slow, lulling lounge track with no heaviness in any way, save for that deep bass that seems to rattle the very fiber of the song.

"Palaces" sounds like a massive, oppressive, Lord Sauron inspired tower should sound like, complete with shrieking gargoyles and bellowing ogres. The middle section is really chill but don't expect the song to end on a soft note like that, as it disintegrates into noise just before 5 minutes and then crushes your life until just before the 7-minute mark.

"Untitled" is over 4 minutes of the vocal harmonization I was talking about earlier. Surprisingly, this really satisfies me. It's really soothing and quite beautiful. The song closes with a final monstrous gasp before fading into nothing. Hot damn.

So yeah, if you missed the boat a decade ago then it's time to get the fuck on.

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DISCOGRAPHY
Click )==>here<==( to download the band's complete discography in mp3 form.

2004 - Mare cd/12"EP

2005 - We Reach: The Music of the Melvins cover comp (contributed "Nightgoat")

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(2012) MARE - Full Reunion live video

(2004) MARE - "They Sent You" (from 'Mare')

(2004) MARE - "Palaces" (from 'Mare')

(2004) MARE - "Anisette" (from 'Mare')

(2005) MARE - "Night Goat" (from 'Melvins cover album')

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MARE mp3 ST download / additional links

Reunion Show

(download here)

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