drive your plow over the bones of the dead – tragedy as catharsis

Drive your plow over the bones of the dead (stylized in lowercase and named after the murder-mystery novel by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk) is a skramz trio from Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in 2022. They released their demo EP in 2023, which garnered much well-deserved attention from the DIY emo/screamo scene, and they have been touring since. This November, they dropped their latest LP with the fitting title tragedy as catharsis, with the help of No Funeral and Middle-Man Records for physical release.

The band immediately explodes just a few seconds into the opener “spirit incantation,” with frenzied, dissonant, biting guitars, depth-craving bass, sharp, tight drums, and harrowing screams—until things get quiet with solemn guitar and bass and distant screaming, building up to an epic climax, all within two and a half minutes.

What follows are eleven tracks of fast, intense, brief, chaotic, claustrophobic emoviolence, tinged with mathcore and metalcore influences, akin to Jane Doe-era Converge, Neil Perry, and Welcome the Plague Year. Then comes the closer “baleful solitude,” which offers another buildup after the persistent chaos, providing a brief breather before exploding into chaos once again, eventually drowning in feedback—for two and a half minutes as well.

Most of the tracks last no more than about one minute, with the exceptions of “etchings” (thirty seconds), “blood astronomy” (nineteen seconds), and the respective opener and closer (both two and a half minutes).

This is definitely something fresh that I’ve been longing to hear—an intense, visceral energy with neither compromise nor compression holding them back, and lots of passion displayed throughout the album. With a great accompanying title, it definitely serves its purpose, as emoviolence has been standing for decades. An immense amount of dedication is evident.

The overwhelming panic and desperation in their songwriting, along with an immense apocalyptic atmosphere in their production, complement the blistering chaos of tragedy as catharsis so well. Despite the album’s 18-minute runtime, it wastes no time going straight for your heart and throat, smothering you throughout and leaving you breathless.