The Decibel Addict: Melancholic echoes in the distance

Jon Vernon

Every Living Creature Dies Alone

No one can accuse Jon Vernon of being lazy. Drumming in a successful metalcore band whilst also providing his talents in a two piece grind band and an amp worshiping post black metal band has shown us not only his versatility as a drummer but also his amazing work ethic. Amazingly along with all of this he has found time to be producing a solo music as well! Every Living Creature Dies Alone, now Jon's second solo effort exploring ambient and electronic ideas, is an EP that feels like it has two distinct halves. The opening tracks Emissary and Glassworks make up the first cohesive half of this EP pairing ambient noises with melodic strings, pianos and building to a thickly layered burst of post rock at the end of the first track with searing guitars. Glassworks carries over the motifs of the first track but pairing the pianos with an off kilter drum beat making for a sound that is strangely beautiful and the highlight of the EP. The next track, Song Of The Lord, acts as an interlude with its samples of religious ramblings and bell chimes eventually making way for the closing track. White Coffin is an epic fourteen minute track that takes further exploration into moody ambient vibes but this time with a distinctly eastern flavour with addiction of oriental strings. Without warning the EP closes with a jarring burst of harsh noise that jolts the listener out of their melancholic malaise in a most unceremonious and uncomfortable way and brought a wry smile to my face. Melancholic is probably the best way to describe Every Living Creature Dies alone. It's a moody and dramatic exploration into down-tempo and ambient music. Its an EP that is incredibly sure of itself and definitely in a good way. He manages to blend electronic and live instruments near seamlessly and It feels like an incredibly accomplished piece of music with complete and articulate musical ideas. Every Living Creature Dies Alone is an incredibly exciting EP and personally I can't wait to see where Jon takes this solo project.