Infernal Masquerade Webzine Reviews "The Crystal World" and Interviews Locrian

Link here.

You can also listen an audio interview with Locrian here.

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Every once in a while we get a release that makes us listen to it more than normal since it’s so complex and different that we can’t really craft a solid opinion about it with only 3-4 spins. This month we have Locrian’s third full-length album “The Crystal World”, the band plays a very experimental mixture of ambient, drone, and some Black Metal and Post-Rock elements. This might sound like a handful, but it actually works very well for the flow of this release.

“The Crystal World” is a very powerful emotional ride that spreads through 6 tracks. With the first track “Triumph of Elimination”, the band immediately sets the stage for this dark and minimalistic journey. In the traditional fashion of creating expectation, this track starts building up with samples and drones that seem to be gaining momentum but they also seem to never culminate. The ‘culmination’ section for us that need it, comes in the next track “At Night’s End”.

In this second track the band halfway through the track reaches a more climactic point and you can actually hear some Post-Rock passages that greatly enhance the listening experience and add more ingredients to this very experimental (and effective) combination of elements of different genres.

The whole album pretty much follows the same ideas but Locrian actually manages to keep each ‘iteration’ fresh by adding different elements including: Black Metal shrieks, violins, female vocals, and countless samples that greatly enhance this great album. At some points the music gets somewhat Ethno and ritualistic (i.e. “Pathogens”) and could get a bit tiresome for some people, but ambient/drone freaks will surely rejoice in this interesting sections.

Overall, we think that Locrian has managed to release a very effective album. The band has managed to fuse many different elements and styles together in a very cohesive manner creating a truly haunting listening experience. Be warned that “The Crystal World” is a release that needs more than a few listens to be fully understood and enjoyed, but once you are over the ‘learning curve’ the ride is very enjoyable.

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