Bereft is a Los Angeles based melodic sludgy doom band featuring Sacha Dunable of Intronaut and Graviton, Derek Donley of National Sunday Law and Graviton, Charles Elliott of Abysmal Dawn and ex-The Faceless vocalist Derek Rydquist. Bereft released its first track “Withered Efflorescence” exclusively via their Facebook page in early September 2011 to rave reviews and online buzz, followed by their debut live show September 30 in Los Angeles, CA. Elliott has stated that Bereft is all about “dark, depressing doom… definitely different from what we do in our usual bands. It’s heavy as hell and we’re all really proud of how the record and collaboration came out, and we hope people feel the same way.” The debut album Leichenhaus , a conceptual album thematically revolving around a waiting mortuary, is due 4/24/12 on The End Records.
“Real music is birthed from pain, hatred, despair, suffering and regret… and this is our bastard child.”
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The album revolves around two themes: the waiting mortuary and Sky Burial.
Waiting mortuary is a mortuary building designed by early cultures, in a time where the certainty of death was debatable, specifically for the purpose of confirming that deceased persons are truly deceased. To alleviate the fear of burying someone alive, the deceased were housed temporarily to look out for signs of life. Most popular in 19th Century Germany, they were ornate buildings with large bell towers to alert attendants of movement. Occasionally it has erroneously been thought this is where the phrase “Saved by the Bell” was born, as a living soul was saved from burial – it actually originates in the sport of boxing.
Sky Burial, or ritual dissection, is a funerary practice in Tibet, wherein a human corpse was incised in certain locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements (mahabhuta) and animals – especially to predatory birds. The locations of these “burials” are understood as charnel grounds. As many Tibetans are Buddhists, in which the idea of rebirth is adhered to, the body is seen as an empty vessel upon death. Sky Burial is in the simplest understanding, the easiest way to dispose of a body post mortem.