Some bands arrive politely.
Others kick the door open, drag in a wall of feedback, light a candle in the corner, scream into the void, and somehow make the whole thing feel weirdly beautiful.
That, butt, is where A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers come in.
The Haarlem-based metal collective may take their name from several cultural touchstones โ including the legendary Van der Graaf Generator song and the eerie cinematic world of Robert Eggers โ but their own sound is anything but borrowed. This is not nostalgia. This is not easy listening. This is heavy music dragged through grief, politics, spiritual searching, distortion, and the kind of existential dread that usually turns up around 3am when the world feels slightly broken.
Their debut EP, Towers Of Silence, is a challenging, cathartic and deeply atmospheric release that blends sludge, post-metal, doom, drone, free jazz, noise, raga and classical minimalism into something that feels both punishing and strangely consoling.
Lovely stuff, mun. Horrifying, but lovely.
A Sound Built From Collapse, Anger And Hope ๐ฅ
A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers are not the sort of band you casually stick on while doing the washing up.
Unless your washing up involves ritual chanting, psychological collapse and a massive amplifier slowly eating your soul.
Musically, the band sit somewhere in the grim, beautiful wreckage between OM, Sumac, Swans, Miles Davis and Pandit Pran Nath. That might sound like a wild shopping list of influences, but it makes complete sense once the music hits.
There are long-form improvisations.
There are hypnotic bass repetitions.
There are crashing cymbals and noisy guitar textures.
There are desperate shrieks, spiritual drones, jazz eruptions and moments where the whole thing feels like it could either levitate or collapse in on itself.
It is heavy, but not in a simple โbig riffs go brrrrโ kind of way.
This is heavy as in emotional weight. Heavy as in political rage. Heavy as in exhaustion. Heavy as in looking at the state of the world and deciding the only reasonable response is to summon a wall of sound big enough to blot out the sun.
The band describe their music as a vehicle for free artistic, political and personal expression, and that spirit runs right through the EP. There is anger here, but also fragility. There is filth, but also beauty. There is despair, but also a tiny flicker of hope refusing to die.
The Punk Rock Of A Failed Generation? Quite Possibly ๐ค
There is something deeply punk about A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers, even if the sound itself sits far away from traditional punk rock.
This is not three chords and a chorus.
This is the sound of a generation drowning in anger, misinformation, war, oppression, anxiety and burnout โ but too knackered, traumatised or disillusioned to organise the revolution.
Instead, the band turn that pressure into something massive and unsettling.
Their music feels like protest music for people who have run out of slogans. It does not beg for attention. It stares through you. It drags you into the noise and asks what you are going to do with all that dread sitting in your chest.
Cheery? Not exactly.
Powerful? Absolutely.
Towers Of Silence โ A Different Take On Drone Metal ๐ง
When most people hear the term drone metal, names like Sunn O))), Nadja and Earth are usually the first to rise from the fog.
But A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers take a slightly different route on Towers Of Silence.
Rather than building everything from slow, purely atmospheric ambient structures, the band begin with a foundation of doom and sludge metal, then expand outward into freer, stranger territory. The result is less like staring at a static wall of sound and more like being caught inside a storm that keeps changing shape.
There are moments of crushing heaviness, moments of near-spiritual repetition, and moments where the music seems to unravel into avant-garde chaos before pulling itself back together again.
It is not polished in the pop sense. It is not tidy. It is not trying to be radio-friendly.
It is raw, immersive and deliberately uncomfortable โ but there is a strange emotional clarity beneath all the noise.
Track By Track โก
โMassacre Of Flourโ
Opening track โMassacre Of Flourโ acts as a fierce introduction to the bandโs sonic world.
The track is described as a statement against the ongoing suffering in Palestine, with the band channelling political horror and human grief into something vast, furious and deeply unsettling.
It does not ease listeners in gently. There is no polite handshake at the door. This is immediate, confrontational and emotionally loaded.
The sound feels like doom metal cracked open by protest, ritual and despair.
โI Fuck Peopleโ
Then comes โI Fuck Peopleโ, a title that certainly does not need much help grabbing attention.
The track is presented as a show of support for marginalised queer communities worldwide, and musically it lands like a free-jazz avant-metal thunderstorm.
It is chaotic, defiant and gloriously unhinged. Saxophone, noise, rhythm and heaviness collide in a way that feels messy on purpose โ not careless, but alive.
This is the kind of track that sounds like it was dragged out of the basement of some underground art venue at 2am while everyone in the room was either terrified, converted, or both.
โTowers Of Silenceโ
The EP closes with title track โTowers Of Silenceโ, a more spiritual and meditative wall of sound that leans into the bandโs OM-like qualities.
It is still heavy, but in a more searching way.
Here, A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers seem less focused on destruction and more interested in meaning, mortality and the fragile hope that might exist on the other side of collapse.
It is the sound of standing at the edge of something enormous and trying to make peace with the fact that none of us are getting out of this alive.
You know, light Sunday listening.
A Live Band Built For The Unpredictable ๐ค
Following their first run of shows across the Netherlands, often collaborating with additional musicians, A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers are steadily building a reputation for intense and unpredictable live performances.
That makes perfect sense.
This music feels like it wants to mutate in the room. It feels like the kind of thing that changes depending on the space, the crowd, the volume, the mood and whatever strange energy is circling above the amps that night.
Some bands recreate their recordings live.
A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers sound more like they might open a portal and see what happens.
Line-Up ๐ค
A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers are:
- Joost Verhagen โ Vocals, Synths, Shruti, Tanpura
- Derek Twiss โ Drums
- Tristan โLama Waaienโ โ Guitar/Saxophone
- Sterre Marrรฉe โ Bass/Backing Vocals
Credits ๐ค
All songs written by: A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers
Recorded and mixed by: Marlon Wolterink at White Noise Studio, Winterswijk
Artwork and layout by: Yulia Ermakov
The Riff Report Verdict ๐ฅ
Towers Of Silence is not background music. It is not easy. It is not neat. It is not here to hold your hand.
But that is exactly why it works.
A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers have created a debut EP that feels genuinely unsettling, politically charged, musically adventurous and emotionally raw. It is doom as ritual. Sludge as protest. Drone as survival mechanism. Jazz as chaos. Noise as confession.
This is heavy music for people who want more than riffs. It is for listeners who want atmosphere, danger, meaning, discomfort and the occasional moment of fragile beauty shining through the dirt.
A proper weird beast, this one โ and we mean that as a compliment.
Listen And Follow ๐ฒ
Bandcamp:
https://aplagueoflighthousekeepers.bandcamp.com
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/a.plague.of.lighthouse.keepers
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558540259905
