Review: “Lost in Darkness and Distance” by False Gods

“While we all met in our local hardcore scene, that’s not where we wanted to stay. A song like ‘Imposter’ shows that we’re not afraid to write with actual melody. There are still brutally heavy moments here, like ‘Worldless,’ but there’s also psychedelic, YOB-inspired haze in ‘Death Is Listening’ and industrial or noise textures across ‘Straw Dog’ and ‘Voice of Treason.’ We wanted to push ourselves and see how far FALSE GODS could stretch while still sounding like us.”  ~ Mike Stack, vocals

Bringing to an end a decade of destruction Long Island New Yorkers False Gods offer up a third full length album after three EPs with Sludge infused Doom Metal mixed with melodic noise and down-trodden Hardcore their specialism. Crawling out from the rubble of Skeletondealer, long time collaborators in vocalist Mike Stack and guitarist Greg March created False Gods with genre-defying vision in 2015. Joining them on their latest magnum opus are bassist Devin Stracuzza (Enemy of the State, Funeral Dancer, ex-Locus Mortis) and drummer Paulie Stack with second guitarist Nick Luisi exiting stage left earlier this year. New York Hardcore, New Orleans Louisiana Sludge and post-punk anxiety have all lived alongside each other in their previous suffocating works and we expect nothing less this time around.

An album written and recorded during a time riddled with the bullet holes of death, addiction and emotional collapse in the lives of several members “Lost in Darkness and Distance” exposes a raw and emotive quality that is is rooted in the bitterness of the cold light of day. Soaked in despair and disillusionment “Voice of Treason” finds Stack ranting like a lunatic bound for the asylum over weighty Noise Metal riffs that bring to mind the sonic abrasions of bands like Will Haven and Eyehategod. Stack sounds like he’s crawling out of the cracks in the pavement at points during the record, the down-tuned riffage of “Straw Dog” as  uncompromising as the lyrical narrative is cathartic. Screaming into the abyss having gone past the point of wondering if there is any meaning to this life, on this one the riffs hit like wave upon wave of toxic sludge. Almost as monolithic as Stack sounds depraved, False Gods spiral to the bowels of hell itself, leaving us to roar “with you all I suffer!” along with them as if its a life jacket upon which to cling to after a ship wreck. Never afraid to write longer compositions, “Enemy That Never Was” is one of two that cross the eight minute boundary with consummate ease, a death in the family meaning that unresolved issues remain become a burden to bear. Both haunting and punishing, this one brings home the sentiment with suitably crushing riffs that reflect the nature of the lyrical narrative perfectly while reaching and touching Post-Metal at the same time.

Splitting the album clean in half, the dissonant guitars of “Imposter” take us back to the 90’s, the bass heavy in the mix as the self loathing takes root. Written as if suffering from exhaustion and running from demons, the cut feels almost like an out of body experience, the raw honesty of it incredible. Taking a page from the Crowbar playbook at its heaviest “Suffering in a Strange Land” dances on graves with Sludge riffs and a bass line that injects melody. Sounding like a confession it bleeds through the bandages, threatening to boil over but not quite reaching much more than a simmer with its rich undercurrent of rhymical battery. The pot does however reach boiling point with blast beats rising to the surfaces in “Worldless“, a scalding tirade offering bleak promises of substance abuse. Dissolving on the tongue like Alka-Seltzer, this one moves into the dark waters of psychedelia with weighty rhythms and the odd muscular riff, the unblinking nature of a Mexican stand off between man and his maker reaching nauseating heights. The fear of Death comes to us all and with “Death is Listening” the band offer up their feelings on the subject with a side order of dissonant guitars and melodic bass. Stack doesn’t write cryptically or in metaphors, instead choosing to put all of his cards out there and expose musings on mortality with aching vulnerability. Churning and burning there is no escape – only death is real [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Voice of Treason
2. Straw Dog
3. Enemy That Never Was
4. Imposter
5. Suffering in a Strange Land
6. Worldless
7. Death is Listening

“Lost in Darkness and Distance” by False Gods is out 25th July 2025 and is available over at bandcamp