Beggar - Compelled To Repeat

When Compelled to Repeat dropped on 3 April 2020, Beggar finally stepped out of the shadows of EPs and became something bigger: a debut full-length that doesn’t just demand attention, it drags you in and doesn’t let go. Emerging from London’s heavy scene, the band deliver a record that feels like a ritual – part plague-doom, part deathly aggression, part psychedelic storm.

From the opening rumble of Blood Moon, the world gets shaken. Fuzz and distortion coat the guitar tones, drums pound like echoes of some distant calamity, and Charlie Davis’ vocals shift from savage roars to choking screams, from guttural lows to bitter howls. Songs like The Cadaver Speaks and Matryoshka Brain pull double duty – oppressive and brutal, but with moments of sharp clarity: solos, dynamics, bleak melody breaking through the crushing weight. There’s stoner-/doom influence in the haze; there’s extreme metal fury in the attack. Wherever there’s space, Beggar fill it with atmosphere, dread, and raw power. (Anaesthete, Black Cloud are examples where slowness is leveraged for menace, where the weight of each note matters.)

Recorded in July 2019 by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, London, and mastered by James Plotkin (NY), the album’s production straddles a tightrope: clear enough that the riffs hit with definition, raw enough that they bleed grit and ferocity. The sequencing has a push-and-pull: tighter, more direct tracks give way to expansive, atmospheric moments, so the listener is dragged through varied terrain — from near-suffocating heaviness to moments that allow breath, however brief.

Visually, the artwork by No Master Studio (Barcelona) matches the tone — harsh, dark, with a gravity that suits the music. The physical formats (LP, CD, digipak, limited cassette, vinyl) reflected that same attention to weight and presence; limited and tactile, not just digital.

Compelled to Repeat isn’t just Beggar’s arrival. It’s a manifesto. A record that shows what’s possible when a band embraces everything heavy — sludge, death, doom, stoner, hardcore — and weaves it into a cohesive, punishing, necessary statement. It sets a high bar for what’s to come.

1. Blood Moon
2. Anaesthete
3. The Cadaver Speaks
4. Black Cloud
5. Trepanned Head Stares At The Sun
6. Custody Of The Eyes
7. Tenantless The Graves
8. Matryoshka Brain
9. Compelled To Repeat

Music by Beggar.
Lyrics by C.M. Davis

Beggar personnel:
C.M. Davis - vox / bass
A. I. Whitworth - guitar
J.W. Leyland - guitar / backing vox
B.M.S. Sautier - drums

Recorded and mixed in July 2019 by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, London.
Mastered in August 2019 by James Plotkin at Plotkinworks, New York.
Artwork by No Master Studio, Barcelona.