White Ring - SHOW ME HEAVEN

Though I have long been a fan of witch house and the subsequent dark music that followed it, I was never privy to White Ring prior to 2020. I was scrolling through Facebook when a friend of mine shared their 2018 album "Gate of Grief". I clicked on the link, hit the play button, and found myself lost in the twisted and ear-filling electronic noise of 'Heavy Self Alienation'. Following that, I sat through the entirety of the album and "Gate of Grief" became my album of the month. I found myself coming back to tracks such as 'Fields of Hate', 'Leprosy', and 'Do U Love Me 2?' multiple times. It wasn't long after that that I ordered their albums "Black Earth That Made Me" and "Gate of Grief" on vinyl, alongside the 7" single "Nothing". 



The one thing that is grand about discovering a band later than usual means that they have probably been working on something prior to me finding them. And that was the case with White Ring; not too long after I began to heavily dive into their discography, I was swept up into a brand new album with "SHOW ME HEAVEN". While fans and the musicians Bryan Kurkmills and Adina Viargengo will forever miss Kenra Malia, White Ring has done both themselves and their bandmate a huge service by improving the quality of their sound whilst exploring new avenues of electronic music. 

The opening track on the album, 'Light Hours Linger', will throw fans of the project into familiar territory as previous albums. Digitally altered, whispered-like vocals with pitch-shifts into deep territory deliver the lyrics while dragging synths and slow, rhyhmic bass rocks out a melancholic, dream-like song. The follow-up track, 'I Need A Way', threw me for a loop as I was thrust into a sludgy industrial rock hybrid track. Think of it as a song you would find playing in a bar of hardened and angry Gothic, vampire bikers and you should get a clear picture of what you're walking into. 

Towards the middle of the album, there's a short forty-second intermission titled 'Friendly Children's Programming' that should be noted. The chimes that play about should indicate a brighter song, but the off-putting, robotic vocals and ominous synths laid in the background transform it into a White Ring nightmare. The following track, 'Fake Fuck', is another brilliant track on the album focusing on walls of electronic guitar. While the noise does fill up my headphones, I find the sensory takeover to be hypnotically pleasing. The ambient nature of 'Charm' comes next in mind whenever I think of "SHOW ME HEAVEN". It is quite beautiful and relaxing. If someone asked for a slow ballad from White Ring, then they would find nothing more satisfying than this song. 

While I could drone on and on about "SHOW ME HEAVEN", and about each of the songs that I enjoyed (all of them), I think that would make for a redundant read. Not a single song on "SHOW ME HEAVEN" is bad; I've been able to listen to this album from beginning to end multiple times in without skipping a track or feeling the urge to do so. While White Ring may be filed under the witch house genre, I feel as if "SHOW ME HEAVEN" is showing how they're breaking free from the confinements of the genre by incorporating and experimenting with new sounds as seen on 'I Need A Way'. I would love to see them continue on that path, merging different dark genres into their albums. Nonetheless, "SHOW ME HEAVEN" is a must-listen for anyone musician or fan in the witch house underground. 
Mar 18 2021