Ep. 5: A Conversation with Barren of Shape (Zany death-grind experimentation from Belgium)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:38 — 150.2MB)

Barren of Shape is an absurd amalgamation of sounds that shouldn’t gel together, but do. What started as a sludge band with a somewhat misshapen set-up of two basses, a drummer, and a guitarist, the then quartet produced a single EP. Soon thereafter, some line-up changes occurred, general band tumult ensued, and Barren of Shape ended up losing their guitarist. Instead of seeking a replacement, though, the trio forged ahead as two bassists, Tom and Dario, and drummer Dylan. They strayed the well-worn path of sludge and decided to begin threading seemingly disparate genres together with needles of grindcore and death metal. Zany vocal deliveries and punishing lower-end frequencies abound, these guys epitomized experimentation gone awry in the best way possible with their first LP, Fauna and Defloration. Where they reside in the city of Heers, Belgium, no band exists like Barren of Shape.

In this conversation, Barren of Shape discuss their musical upbringings, the moment they knew to switch gears to an experimental grindcore-meets-death metal sound, how people react to their music in a live setting, plus a number of other stories. Thank you so much for listening and thank you for giving Barren of Shape your attention.

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You can support Barren of Shape by visiting their Bandcamp page and following/liking them on Facebook. They almost have enough material to begin recording their next LP, so keep your ear to the ground for its potential release later this year.

And thank you so much to Kyle over at Ash & Dust Studio for editing this audio and making it sound significantly better.