OVERO (Lindsay and Mercy from Football, etc., Brendan from Perfect Future, and John from Rose Ette) was beyond doubt one of the most captivating discoveries last year, and therefore it is my great pleasure to present another exciting project from Brendan called IT ONLY ENDS ONCE, a blackened screamo project in the vein of Respire, Sadness, Heaven in Her Arms, and Falls of Rauros. Shawn Decker‘s prolific label Middle-Man Records is going to be releasing a tape of the debut LP, and today we’re giving you its first full listen, along with Brendan’s special commentary about the project and each and every song on the EP.
By consolidating the stylistic elements of dark post metal, emotional hardcore and raw screamo, IT ONLY ENDS ONCE lies at the intersections of Brendan’s past experience while forging something entirely new to his catalogue. The debut offering marks a beautiful work of harsh soundscapes that finds glory in chaos. Here’s what Brandan had to say about this project and “Chasms Will Never Be Filled”:
it only ends once started when overo got back from our UK tour and took a few weeks of practicing off. For the first time in a long time, I had all my gear at home, and I was just feeling so inspired playing with all of these amazing UK bands that I decided to record a song that was heavier, darker, and longer than what I do in overo. I really liked the song, so I tried to challenge myself to write a full length lp in just a few short weeks.
Now I see this project as one that has a lot of freedom both to evolve musically in different directions. I’m excited that Shawn Decker was excited to do this project and encouraged me to pick a charity that proceeds will go towards. This time around we are donating to the Autism Self Advocacy Network because several songs on the album are directly related to being on the autism spectrum. I’m hoping to be able to do more things like this through this new band.
All of the recording and instruments were performed by Brendan. Mixing was done by Matt Wojcik at The Warren Recording Group. Tape will be released on Human Machine with proceeds going to the Autism Self Advocacy Network
in the silence between our breaths – This was the first song that I wrote for the project. In order to separate it only ends once from overo, I knew I wanted to explore longer songs with dynamics pushed–extreme quiet and extreme noise. I’m really proud of the vocals in this song, both in my patterns and performance.
so far away – I think this might be the most diverse song musically on the record. Some of the riffs are the types of chords I use in more emo projects and some are directly influenced by doom and early black metal.
spectrum – Lyrically this song touches on being on the autism spectrum. By and large, I am happy with who I am, and I think being autistic has provided me with advantages because I think so differently than neurotypicals. But there are times where it can feel overwhelmingly isolating to live in a world that isn’t designed for neurodiversity.
living among endless storms – I moved to Houston three years ago, just a few weeks before Hurricane Harvey ravaged the city. Since then there has been more tropical storms that have been nearly as damaging but without the spotlight. Seeing the impacts of climate change in such a destructive way has really impacted me.
Houston local scene
Houston has so many incredible bands, but not many that are doing directly what I am trying to do with this project. I think the closest would be Sleeping Ancient. They’re so incredible. Really heavy blackened post-metal.
Other artists worth your time
Bands in general — This project is really influenced by other one-man blackened projects like Panopticon, Sadness, and Xasthur. I’m really into all shades of screamo–everything from the 30 second spastic songs to the 15 minute post-rock tracks–and I always have to mention Ostraca, Respire, Hundreds of AU, and Envy as some of the best active bands in the world. Lately I’ve been listening to almost nothing but Cady, Falls of Rauros, Archivist, Alcest, and Svalbard.
I’m already surprised that there are some really fantastic records that came out in 2020. Sadness dropped the Atna lp out of nowhere, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. Panopticon did two split lps that are out of this world. Punch On! just had the vinyl release of Harm Passes Forward that absolutely shreds. And online there are pictures of Respire and Svalbard both recording new albums, which I couldn’t be more excited for.
