John Cage was an avant-garde composer, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, etc. that was popular in the early part of the 20th century. "Litany for the Whale" was one of his many compositions. While I'm not certain this is where they draw their namesake from, California's Litany for the Whale offer up atmospheric, noisy, hardcore that pushes the limits of "hardcore" on their debut EP, Dolores.
The seven songs that comprise this EP are dark metallic hardcore that draw from the inventiveness of Converge mixed with d-beat punk of His Hero is Gone, all interspersed with various noise elements. "A Wake" and "Lord of the Gallows" are volatile hardcore akin to Cursed, meanwhile "Die Alone Unloved" and "Rotting on the Shoreline" are more loose and drone-oriented - see Buried Inside, Cult of Luna. And then there are "Philistines," a two-minute acoustic interlude, and closer "Lonesome God," which incorporates post-rock guitar noodling.
Dolores is a solid debut EP from Litany for the Whale. The instrumentals work well in the context of the album, but I definitely would have preferred more songs as opposed to the filler. I'll be keeping tabs on them as I'm definitely looking forward to their next offering.
