Everything from hardcore to classical segments can be burned into post-metal, and it would still be coherent, Lined in Silver is no exception. Song duration rivals prog, frequently illustrating those meandering atmospheric leads and hardcore riffs. Surprisingly they also sometimes lead to industrial passages. Covering this spectrum of influences and usually keeping with that shoegaze ambience, but again except for those instances of post-hardcore outbursts and hard to define avant-garde progressions. Seems like Breaths, just like post-metal, is easy to identify but often hard to describe.
As expected, album goes beyond metal. In fact, that famous post-metal emphasis on aesthetic, more than concrete musical influences cannot be more evident. Even though straddling genre boundaries, it’s always grim in a unique way. In other words, you don’t have to be a fan of doom metal to enjoy these sludgy passages; it can simply captivate anyone appreciating the dark and the melancholy.
Prejudice. It’s something all of us have. As a product of human error, all of us sometimes unfairly judge based off stereotypes and predetermined opinions, musical or not. I have always had a prominent discrimination against something many people love. That something is metal music. My opinion on metal music was harsh and unfair, quickly dismissing it as shallow and insignificant. To me, metal always consisted of repeated chugging chords and strange animal noises replacing actual singing, with cheesy and soft sections interspersed. I thought of metal as a self-indulgent form of music, that served only to please the ostentatious and overblown bands and their ridiculously loyal fans. It was a brutal criticism of a genre I didn’t know well at all, and it served only to damage my listening experience. The worst part was, I believed myself for the longest time. That is, until I listened to Subnoir’s debut masterpiece A Long Way From Home. Rarely can a single album give you a completely different outlook on an entire genre, but the album did it, and if I have one regret about it, it’s not listening to it sooner.
What makes ALWFH differ from other metal albums A.D. is that it’s simply a way in for anybody who doesn’t warm to metal easily. It effortlessly mixes elements of indie rock, sludge metal, post-rock, progressive, and even ambient into its own unique hybridization of genres. However, it’s still recognizable as metal (and some damn good metal at that): its rich and heavy chords and growling vocals are staples of the genre done one better, and its unconventional song structure recalls progressive metal bands such as Opeth or even Mastodon. However, Subnoir remember something so many metal bands seem to forget: to make their music beautiful. When not pounding out chords so rich they seem tangible, the band are creating softly meandering interludes that are nothing short of gorgeous (if in a subtly menacing way).
In addition to improving on already-established standards of metal, Subnoir constantly find new ways to innovate and expand the genre’s depths. The album is “progressive” in every sense of the word. Subnoir also constantly show restraint on the album; instead of taking the “easy way out” and constantly letting the songs devolve into sludgy jam sessions, the band choose to take longer musical paths and let the songs build themselves to beautiful apexes. The band constantly discard conventional structure in favor of an infinitely more interesting way of building their songs: sometimes subtly disquieting passages will suddenly give way to triumphantly blasting guitar chords, or the band will introduce an unexpected riff, or even give ad-lib nods to other genres. Whatever it is they end up doing, the band always excite and are never predictable, giving the album an impulsive edge.
While they show brilliance in the songwriting category, the band’s members also make it known that they sure as hell know what they’re doing with their instruments. Frontman Kenneth Mellum is the best of both worlds: his singing has a gruff yet affecting edge, while his growling never feels forced or laughably indulgent, like so many others do. His voice fits perfectly with the astoundingly rich chords played on the guitars, and, both his voice and the guitars acting as instruments, the pair is one you won’t likely see bettered in almost any metal band. Subnoir excel in other instrumental fields as well: the drumming is consistently strong, while the atmospheric tones that complement the quieter sections are always placed to near-perfection.
A Long Way From Home is not an album that can be taken apart track-by-track. While each track makes for a fascinating individual listen, the album is best taken as a whole. The length of the album’s songs (the album spans eight songs and 50 minutes) may seem a little daunting for the uninitiated, but the album is easily welcoming for anyone willing to give it their undivided attention. The album is a seductive experience, trading in structure and melody for overall sound and tone. It may not be the most accessible metal album on the market, but it should have any listener quickly scrambling for their future works. I know I will.
Until then support Subnoir by checking out A Long Way From Home on Bandcamp.
TerraTerra, an instrumental post/progressive metal one-man band from Russia comprised of multi-instrumentalist going by the name Ayli K., has quite a challenge as with any new band playing this stylistically demanding music. TerraTerra either needs to add something exciting and original to the genre, or be so bloody good at delivering captivating instrumental rock (that visits quite a few genres) in its conventional form that it stands head and shoulders above the oceans of ordinariness that surround the project. While TerraTerra will not win any awards for innovation, the self-titled debut release does in fact rise most convincingly from the latter category, and has enough variation in its eight tracks to keep interest levels high.
Beginning with “Just Once,” TerraTerra expertly marry the sludgy histrionics of “Panopticon” era Isis to the noise rock sensibilities of Melvins. Ayli K. doesn’t joke with long intros, and likes to get on with the business at hand, with only three tracks passing the 6-minute mark. This makes for a more urgent and also provides a much more organic feel to the musician’s playing and performance.
In addition to Isis and Melvins you can undoubtedly hear the massive influence of Cult of Luna, Mono, Mastodon, all the major names, but TerraTerra somehow manages to put a unique stamp on this rather derivative framework.
TerraTerra has risen far above the sum of its influences, and delivered a very fine instrumental rock album. Check it out!
Artist: Fallujah Album Title: Dreamless Label: Nuclear Blast Records Date Of Release: 29 April 2016 ‘Dreamless’ represents my first foray into the world of Fallujah but it most definitely won’t now be my last. Hailing from San Francisco, this heavy metal behemoth has produced a startling third album which has to be heard to be […]
With temerity I venture with this post a bit outside the usual norm of classic, neo, and 3rd wave prog. But even as creative pop (Tears for Fears) and space psychedelia (Hawkwind) intersects on the great prog Venn diagram at times, so can some Post-Rock/Metal.
POSEIDOTICA is a four man band from Buenos Aires, Argentina and this is my first encounter with their music which they call “Rock Expansivo.” Prog Archives calls them “Heavy Prog.” They’ve been around since at least 2005 with this album, El Dilema del Origen being their fourth. It’s an 11-track affair which caught my attention by the fairly “proggy” album jacket art. It is a fine spacey affair which reminds me of Jim Starlin’s art when he was doing Warlock for Marvel back in the day (Thanos anyone?)
Though the album’s title makes me think of an early Church theologian and his own dilemma with heresy, the literal translation is “The Dilemma of Origin.” This music is what I’d refer to as post rock/post metal with prog overtones. And as much as I like doing track by track reviews, this album even with 11 tracks is not so much individual songs as an interweaving soundscape. While not rising quite to the levels of American titans ISIS and PELICAN, this is well produced shoe-gazer music that paints mood and atmosphere in a lush template of melody and power. If you like GREEN CARNATION or THE SIX PARTS SEVEN (and you should) you’ll like this disc. Yes there tends to be a sameness to much post rock/metal with the ebb & flow of loud & quiet, but that doesn’t take away from POSEIDOTICA’s clean superb musicianship or this album’s harmonic beauty. All of the tunes are instrumental and flow nicely from one to the next. The band, for the most part, not only integrates tempo and sound in each individual track but also from song to song so as to militate against monotony. From music that sounds at times almost like a science fiction score (track 1) to surging hard rocking metal (Vikings and Cowboys in space; track 4) it’s a little bit of surf reverb meets post rock meets DEEP PURPLE (track 9) sans Hammond. As my favorite all-time Band is CAMEL and their magnum opus The Snow Goose, this kind of cinematic and anthemic instrumental fare is evocative and perfect for background listening. The acoustic guitar pieces as well as the shredding and riffing are ably complemented by stirring drumming by Walter Broide.
So, if you’re looking for a breather to cleanse the palate from the best of the best (GLASS HAMMER, THE TANGENT, BIG BIG TRAIN or MARILLION) this album deserves a listen…and re-listens. I like it and will try to put in on my shelf. No, there’s nothing really new here but at around 45 minutes it does not wear out its competent and well-crafted welcome.
Is it prog? Well, close enough for my taste especially in the near Floydian vibes from track 3, Hologram.
