Themed by monstrous devotion and hallucinatory religious experience this third full-length album from Canberra, Australia-based surrealistic dissonant black/death metal trio PLOUGHSHARE grasps a feasible palette from past and present exaggerations in oddly pleasant combination. A linear presentation of non-linear thought meant to embody intense acetic determination ‘Second Wound‘ offers a fluid, bounding step through avant-garde technique and disintegrating atmospheric movement. While the full effect of their evolution isn’t as daring or challenging in motion as it is on paper there is something to be said for taking their wild ride and attaching it to the heady, mystic theme implied for a unique enough experience.

Ploughshare formed at some point prior to 2017 and have thus far remained anonymous in both quartet and trio form, at least as far as I’ve noticed. While I’d given their early discography a glance back in 2019 when their ‘Tellurian Insurgency‘ EP released my observations weren’t all that deeply set. I’d identified an early Portal-esque dissonant death metal-guided sound with some interest in noise/industrial rock infused movements. Fans of the first Mitochondrion LP and such would instantly recognize the intent of (most all of) their works to date since then. The one exception was what is being considered their second LP (‘Ingested Burial Ground‘, 2022) a five song EP of experimental electro-industrial and noise inspired pieces resembling something like Oranssi Pazuzu at their headiest peaking groove (see: “The Cold Horror is Clear”), scrambled harshness and such with five remixes as the second half. The suggestion is that they’ve fused the more “straight forward” dissonant black-death focused side of the band with those experiments crafting a new beast for ‘Second Wound‘. It isn’t as wild of a transformation as one might think and they’ve taken their time spreading this change across a handful of longform pieces.

Written in both direct collaboration and (likely forced) solitude between 2019 and 2022 ‘Second Wound‘ isn’t necessarily hydra-headed between its five song spread, they’ve separated each piece beyond some directly contiguous motif and techniques which are leaned into throughout. Each of those pieces walk through their points of interest conveying different moods, states of mind which are intentionally linked to their lyrical theme. Taking inspiration from Julian of Norwich’s 1373-published ‘Revelations of Divine Love‘ a calling that’d followed a fever dream/illness later viewed as valuable contribution to Christian mysticism. The most basic summary that might apply here is, in my opinion, addressing the idea of immanence wherein God is in everything and everything is threaded with a certain “oneness” linking the physical and the spiritual in a specific way… but per the lyrics the author’s vision and reaction to the passion of the Christ during their hallucination-filled bout of illness seems most integral to the theme of ‘Second Wound‘. As the lyrics are presented in one continuous thread sans titling the idea that this album is cohesive and linear in its narrative appears rightfully reinforced.

Most of ‘Second Wound‘ lets a similar set of dissonant chords ring out in modulation as the central voice for their more guitar driven pieces, all of which are relatively longform at an average of about ~8-9 minutes. A concerted interest in ulterior rhythms and some righteous focus on estranged, sometimes virtuosic tipped basslines ensures that the longform nature of these pieces are actually rarely taxing and sometimes even approach a strangely tuneful quality despite being so rooted in abstract and damaging forms of death metal. Opener “The Fall of All Creatures” gets us there quick with its scaling disso-black chiming movement and dragging riffs, counting in odd interval and bracing their impact with the weird step of its bassline, an element of jazz influenced rhythmic ideal which has just as much to do with math metal when it comes time for Ploughshare‘s harshened impact later on; The suffering, gasping sickness of the narrator is presented as a penance for the sake of faith on “Desired Second Wound” (and partially “Thorns Pressed into His Head”) with their near-death experience is likened to the final hours of the crucifixion in beauteous, tortured prose. Here the mania and the dissonant black/death munitions begin to growl louder to consistently rattling black metallic press as simple directive riff shapes are formed and the dance of the core rhythm finds its point of tarantella around ~5 minutes into the song. Here the thread shared between each of the two nine minute opening pieces feels most clear, playful in its rhythmic idea yet serious and scouring when engaged face to face with the guitar and vocal directive.

While we’ve gotten a focus on unique basslines and rhythmic tension as the main introduction to ‘Second Wound‘ the piece to truly crush away expected bounds comes as “Thorns Pressed into His Head” expands its reach steadily beyond its first third, achieving what I’d consider post-hardcore movement by the time the piece is glowing hottest. This isn’t necessarily the fusion of all things past and present as advertised but it does begin to turn the ear away from the consistently firing voice commands of the two major opening pieces that introduce the album. From that point the transformation begins to seep together in a more complete way, though the introductory hiss of “The Mockery of the Demons” resembles something like progressive black metal to start, walking in wide sweeping steps ’til a faster-sped hypnotic whorl develops beyond the first minute or two. The neck-craning mutant beast of dissonant black metal within Ploughshare unleashes more readily within this ~11.5 minute song, at least in terms of the guitar work as it flexes into its second half. I believe fans of Serpent Column and even Dodecahedron will appreciate some of the wilder swings of riff and pace taken throughout this song, though their use of keyboards and walking/jammed basslines create a different sort of concurrent chaotic touch which is arguably their own. Per my own experience that particular song was vital for wiring my brain as to what ‘Second Wound‘ were hoping to achieve beyond blending sub-genre and core themes.

Much in the way that the first two pieces were pulling from the same thread so does closer “So Reverend and Dreadful” bleed similar blood to “The Mockery of the Demons” through roughly four main movements which build a different set of intricate run-on statements from similar register. The general sensation, or, mood of this piece begins with active furor and descends into numbing madness in three stages with my favorite outburst occurring ~6:40 minutes in where Ploughshare once again offer a surprising turn taken within chaotically developed bout of nuance. The best moments on this album generally do this, twist expectations or freak out at just the right time to keep things interesting, I see this as more than the suggested combination of ideas/modes from their two most recent releases.

In the moment and hyper-focused on the details I wouldn’t say that I was overwhelmed by these compositions but rather that I found far more value when sitting back and letting the meta-statement develop, and with great help from the lyric sheet being available to connect those breakout moments per the imagery conveyed. The whole of the experience isn’t so daunting or unknowable though there are nuanced moments that allow for some manner of challenging, or at least demanding, peaks to access throughout the full listen. In this sense I’d found ‘Second Wound‘ particularly easy to get into with a curious tail-end worth looking into. The portal on offer here is otherwise crystal clear in terms of its brilliantly recorded and produced values beset by intensely skilled performance, the lot of it being woven together into one glom of exaggerative poetic thought and given curious presentation.

Where I began to falter with Ploughshare‘s work beyond the first handful of spins came when trying to dig up those identifiable moments within the whole, finding what’d stood out enough to pull me back in. In simplest terms, ‘Second Wound‘ isn’t all that memorable but it is “cool.” That said, I was happy to go with the flow, to be dragged along their hallucinatory penance and enjoy the ride. Otherwise the album artwork (via Necromodernism) and general graphic design allowed for at least one additional component of interest that’d guide me toward the actual themes and meaning potentially derived from the experience. There is some considerable value available to those who’d choose to dig deeper in response to their enjoyment. A high recommendation.

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