Locrian "Territories" Review from Chain D.L.K.

Artist: Locrian
Title: Territories
Format: 12"
Label: At War With False Noise
Rated:

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in this case it took a village to release this album. This album seems to have been released by four different labels: At War With False Noise, Basses Frequences, BloodLust!, and Small Doses. Evidently this is an LP, but I got a CDR version of it, so I can say little about the packaging for the vinyl fetishists out there. I think that I have become the resident Locrian expert, having reviewed several of their releases for ChainDLK at this point. Overall, I think that this is the best album Locrian has put out so far. Where some of the others have been too minimalist for my taste, this one has a lot more variety. For example, the disc opens with 'Inverted Ruins,' which is everything that you would expect from this band'guitar noise and feedback. But then it shifts into 'Between Barrows,' which is a droning, atmospheric piece that features organ. However, I have to admit that 'Procession of Ancestral Brutalism' sounded too much like a metal band trying to be experimental. But 'Ring Road' brings us back into the realm of brooding, ominous atmosphere and the rest of the album continues this trajectory, although 'The Columnless Arcade' briefly slips into metal mode. Even so, the second half of the disc is Locrian at their best'dark, atmospheric, and heavy. This album is limited to 500 copies, so you will probably want to get it while you can. The album weighs in at around 48 minutes.