There seems to be a misconception that intimacy is the realm of quietness. Intimate music is played by a single person with an acoustic guitar or maybe a piano mic’d so close that you can hear the sound of their mouth opening before they sing their closest secrets in a near whisper.

But as I listen to They Grieve’s amp-rattlingly heavy To Which I Bore Witness, I can’t escape the sense of closeness I feel to this post-metal/drone duo. This record is loud, dark, and often violent, yes, but there is an intimacy woven into these songs that makes even the extreme volumes feel close.

The lyrical themes on the album are rooted in conversations the duo had as friends, discussing things like grief, fear, trauma, depression…the kinds of topics best suited to nocturnal chats over cups of coffee. It might feel a little alarming, and maybe even vulgar, to hear these same conversations bellowed through screamed vocals, but across the space of the album, it feels like you’re a part of those talks.

That closeness also informs the production. While the guitars are run through thick distortion most of the time, they’re recorded so intimately that you can hear the granularity between each frequency. The drums are similarly close, each skin and cymbal reverberating as if you’re in the room with them.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t any quiet moments. Synth pads and ambient passages are plentiful, acting like long silent stretches in the conversation in between bombshell revelations, like taking a sip of coffee or a drag from a cigarette to sit with the weight of what was just said. As such, the switch between these moments feel very organic—hardly the formulaic crescendo-core of many other acts in their scene.

The band says that To Which I Bore Witness is intended to be heard as a whole, and it rewards that. Its 39 minute runtime flows by easily, but it leaves an impact that albums twice its length fail to match. Set aside some time and give this your attention: it’ll be worth it.

To Which I Bore Witness is out now through Silent Pendulum.

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