Maenad Veyl & The Sarcasm Ensemble - Comfort in Misery

Maenad Veyl & The Sarcasm Ensemble is a project of consisting of industrial, noise, and otherwise experimental pieces. While I have not listened to the project's previous output, the artist has promised to their fans that this album goes in a different direction than his first two releases. However, while I love many experimental and noise pieces, this is not one of them. A myriad of issues plague Maenad Veyl's "Comfort in Misery", from repetitious rhythms to sounds that make me wish my headphones weren't on. And you're about to find out why. 

"Comfort in Misery" does not begin off on a high note, however. The opening track, 'Weak and Weary', is a four-minute and twenty-seven second song featuring a non-stop noise wall. I will always complain about these types of songs as there is hardly a way to distinguish it from other similar songs within the genre; it's bland and boring, and I've heard it a million times before through submissions on the site. The one thing I will give it, however, is that it is somewhat meditative and Maenad Veyl manages to not include any noises that are otherwise terrible to the ear.

The follow-up shows more promise, however. 'Harsh Whispers' has a low-pitched noise drone that serves as a backdrop. Rhythmic synth keys play out a curious rhythm as other textural samples are placed above it adding onto the odd atmosphere. While the song is interesting, the primary rhythm that run through the song does not change; other tones and the like will change it up, but the pacing, tone, and beat never changes. While it is somewhat hypnotic, it also grows dull after the first two minutes or so. I would have liked to see a bit more variation with this one. 



A crashing and booming drum begins off 'Life Expectancy'. This plays heavily into the rest of the track as a horrific atmosphere is curated through cavernous like samples and twangy guitar strings. However, much like 'Harsh Whispers', I found 'Life Expectancy' to be very repetitive for its three-minute and thirty-eight second duration. It is an experimental piece, but hearing the same twang repeat itself for that long does cause listening fatigue. 

'Deep Ruby' is the first song on the album that has some degree of variation. Sticking within Maenad Veyl's wheelhouse of experimental electronics, prickly echoing electronic keys are the primary source of sound throughout this song. A windy like backdrop is present, though its presence is oh-so subtle. The song is also fairly minimal, allowing the keys to do the talking with a fair amount of raw presence. While this song is not going to rewrite electronic history, it is nice to see what Maenad Veyl can do with less.

 Heavy rumbling begins off 'Suntrails' which eventually leads into a dose of ambient synths and underground techno beats. Once more, I found the song to be incredibly repetitive; the synths almost create a wall that shifts here and there, and the bassline of that techno beat doesn't do more than maintain a feint mark on the track. I also felt as if both the bassline and the synth line were at odds with one another, and didn't necessarily coalesce. 

'Security Theatre' is an interesting bit. The first twenty-four seconds plays between utter silence and what sounds like a synthetic accordion. This accordion like sound eventually builds into blasts of synthetic noise every time the note comes on. The rest of the track pays homage to this rendition, going back and forth between blasts of noise and quiet pieces. While I can't say that I would listen to this on my personal time, it is one of the better pieces on "Comfort in Misery". 

There's not much to say about 'Always Worse' other than that it is a very by-the-books ambient / drone song. Which is to say that it is generic for the associated genres. The beat within 'Dural' is minimal much like 'Deep Ruby'. However, like Maenad Veyl's prior efforts I feel as if the main rhythm hardly does much to diversify itself throughout its four-minute and fifty-second duration. Also, there are some really high pitched synths found within the song that made me wince every time I heard them. I had to give this track a hard pass on subsequent plays of the album. 

Horn-like drones and ambient sound effects are the majority of sounds found on "Irreconciliable Differences". While it was interesting to hear how Maenad Veyl managed to strike a song with what little they used on the album, I also found it lacking any kind of meat that would keep me attached to it. The final song on the album, 'Shred', is a very noisey final output from Maenad Veyl. And thus led to its downfall; I found the initial clangs on the album to be quite awful. I wanted nothing more than for it to be stopped. The middle moments of the track quiet down and the final moments are an experimental piece that didn't do much for me. 

Maenad Veyl & The Sarcasm Ensemble shows effort as far as crafting an album goes; I believe that the mixing was well done on most of "Comfort in Misery" and the mastering is well enough. I found myself able to hear every sample or quiet note that Maenad Veyl included in this piece. However, repetitious songs that grow boring with each passing minute, dissatisfactory and empty songs, as well as some sections that had me taking my headphones off make "Comfort in Misery" an album that I don't ever wish to experience again. I believe that there is hope for Maenad Veyl, however, provided they're able to fix these issues on their next album. However, as of right now, I can't really recommend this to anyone. Four out of ten. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Oct 04 2021