Link here.
--------------
LOCRIAN
The Crystal World
Format: 2CD
Label: Utech
Spielzeit: 101:23
Genre: Electronic
Webseite
Wertung:
Die beängstigendsten Bilder einer möglichen Endzeit im Kopf eines Lesers ließ in letzter Zeit wohl bloß Cormac McCarthys Roman „The Road“ entstehen (die zudem von John Hillcoat in der gleichnamigen Verfilmung ebenso eindrucksvoll visualisiert wurden) und das momentan einzige musikalische Äquivalent zu so einer runterziehenden wie auch faszinierenden Atmosphäre ist die Musik des Chicagoer Duos LOCRIAN.
Eigentlich sind sie kaum zu ertragen, die brachialen und harschen sowie todtraurigen und angstmachenden Klangwelten, die Terence Hannum und André Foisy auch für ihr drittes Album wieder geschaffen haben, sie sind gleichzeitig aber auch von einer morbiden und mitreißenden Schönheit durchsetzt, der man sich nicht entziehen kann und will.
Das Gefühl, es mit einer Beinahe-Band mit maximal elf Minuten langen Songs zu tun zu haben, das LOCRIAN mit ihren diversen Gastmusikern auf dem Vorgänger „Territories“ noch hervorriefen, ist mit „The Crystal World“ wieder verschwunden; zum schwer konsumierbaren Minimalimus ihres nur zwei Stücke, aber dennoch sechzig Minuten langen Debütalbums „Rain Of Ashes“ sind sie aber nur bedingt zurückgekehrt, zumindest nicht auf dem ersten Teil von „The Crystal World“.
Die knapp einstündige Komposition „Extinction“ auf der zweiten CD aber stellt eine Herausforderung dar, der man sich stellen sollte, um LOCRIAN wirklich zu verstehen, um das momentan Beste in der Schnittmenge aus Dark Ambient, Noise, Drone und (Black) Metal zu erfahren.
Falls ich das Ende der Welt noch erleben muss, dann bitte hiermit im Ohr.
André Bohnensack
© by Ox-Fanzine / Ausgabe #94 (Februar/März 2011)
Showing posts with label The Crystal World Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Crystal World Reviews. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Vinyl Abuse on Locrian "The Crystal World"
Link here. Thanks to the blogger for the support.
Here's what he has to say:
"After having Locrian's latest LP spinning on my turntable for the last few weeks I'm finally getting around to posting about it. It's not easy to describe the sounds on this record as there's quite a mix of genres all melting together to make music that's both dark and beautiful at the same time. The cover art by Justin Bartlett looks exactly like it sounds, which is what album covers should do. Fans of ambient, drone, noise and black metal would be best off getting this into your eardrums as soon as possible. LP available now from Utech Records."
Here's what he has to say:
"After having Locrian's latest LP spinning on my turntable for the last few weeks I'm finally getting around to posting about it. It's not easy to describe the sounds on this record as there's quite a mix of genres all melting together to make music that's both dark and beautiful at the same time. The cover art by Justin Bartlett looks exactly like it sounds, which is what album covers should do. Fans of ambient, drone, noise and black metal would be best off getting this into your eardrums as soon as possible. LP available now from Utech Records."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Skeletons and Candy Blog on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
-----------------
Locrian's "The Crystal World" starts out deep inside of the earth in an endless cave that seems like an abyss. Stalagmites twinkle just enough to create a partial circle of light, but beyond the radius of visibility, things slither and crawl on the walls and floor. Then you hear it. Somewhere deeper down in the cave is a monster, something that speaks, screams and wails in desperation and anger, something that you know will kill you if it finds you. It sounds closer and closer as the earth around you hums with increasing intensity. It's as if death is coming to meet you instead of waiting for you to stumble upon it. This is what it is to enter Locrian's "The Crystal World."
The Chicago trio of André Foisy, Terence Hannum and Steven Hess craft their nightmarish sound world out of remnants of krautrock, drone, post-rock and black metal creating their own unique brand of experimental terror. The album was inspired by J.G. Ballard's novel "The Crystal World," wherein the earth's vegetation succumbs to an apocalyptic crystallization. The world that Ballard creates sparkles even as it devastates, and Locrian have captured perfectly that quality of glimmering beauty amidst inevitable destruction.
The record follows a narrative arch with one song bleeding into the next to make for an audial journey into the heart of darkness. The impending doom that informs opener "Triumph of Elimination" quietly pervades "At Night's End," which follows. The track eventually explodes with pounding percussion, epic guitar squalls and a voice that has turned from hateful to haunted. One can imagine anguished flight from the terror in the darkness as the song plays out. The band ups the ante on the phenomenal title track which mixes minimalist repeating guitar patterns against varying drones of ascending madness and doom while Hess' drums stumble around the piece like a battered and exhausted victim of unfathomable horrors.
"Pathogens" begins the record's second half with drones that resemble distant emergency sirens, rising and falling in intensity. Inevitably the horror creeps back into the immediate as squelching electronics and guitar approach closer and closer to the foreground until they eventually overtake it along with with Hess' rattling tom beats.
With "Obsidian Facades" that desperate hate-filled voice returns, screaming out from the depths. A steady dark guitar drone underlies the piece, while haunted atmospherics swirl over the surface calling to mind Paysage d'Hiver's "Kerker," Sunn 0)))'s "Black One" and Nortt to some degree. The track ends with a shimmering guitar refrain reminiscent of Labradford that offers a tiny fragment of hope. "Elevations and Depths" brings the album to a close in a manner that is powerful, beautiful and deeply moving, even as it snuffs out that tiny fragment of hope. Acoustic guitars and harmoniums mix with all of the elements the band have mined thus far to make for an intense swelling finale that is tragic in tone. The horror wins at the end of "The Crystal World," but not without a good fight, making the denouement that much more heartbreaking.
The effect of "Elevations" belies the grimness of "The Crystal World," and exposes a deeper humanity that runs throughout the record. There is warm beating heart at the center of the album that elevates it far beyond simple atmospheric dark ambient or doom, and makes for a deeply effecting musical experience. As I shape up my "best of" list for 2010, Locrian's "The Crystal World" looks to be a shoe-in for both its unique musical vision, and it's gut-wrenching emotionality. Highly recommended.
-----------------
Locrian's "The Crystal World" starts out deep inside of the earth in an endless cave that seems like an abyss. Stalagmites twinkle just enough to create a partial circle of light, but beyond the radius of visibility, things slither and crawl on the walls and floor. Then you hear it. Somewhere deeper down in the cave is a monster, something that speaks, screams and wails in desperation and anger, something that you know will kill you if it finds you. It sounds closer and closer as the earth around you hums with increasing intensity. It's as if death is coming to meet you instead of waiting for you to stumble upon it. This is what it is to enter Locrian's "The Crystal World."
The Chicago trio of André Foisy, Terence Hannum and Steven Hess craft their nightmarish sound world out of remnants of krautrock, drone, post-rock and black metal creating their own unique brand of experimental terror. The album was inspired by J.G. Ballard's novel "The Crystal World," wherein the earth's vegetation succumbs to an apocalyptic crystallization. The world that Ballard creates sparkles even as it devastates, and Locrian have captured perfectly that quality of glimmering beauty amidst inevitable destruction.
The record follows a narrative arch with one song bleeding into the next to make for an audial journey into the heart of darkness. The impending doom that informs opener "Triumph of Elimination" quietly pervades "At Night's End," which follows. The track eventually explodes with pounding percussion, epic guitar squalls and a voice that has turned from hateful to haunted. One can imagine anguished flight from the terror in the darkness as the song plays out. The band ups the ante on the phenomenal title track which mixes minimalist repeating guitar patterns against varying drones of ascending madness and doom while Hess' drums stumble around the piece like a battered and exhausted victim of unfathomable horrors.
"Pathogens" begins the record's second half with drones that resemble distant emergency sirens, rising and falling in intensity. Inevitably the horror creeps back into the immediate as squelching electronics and guitar approach closer and closer to the foreground until they eventually overtake it along with with Hess' rattling tom beats.
With "Obsidian Facades" that desperate hate-filled voice returns, screaming out from the depths. A steady dark guitar drone underlies the piece, while haunted atmospherics swirl over the surface calling to mind Paysage d'Hiver's "Kerker," Sunn 0)))'s "Black One" and Nortt to some degree. The track ends with a shimmering guitar refrain reminiscent of Labradford that offers a tiny fragment of hope. "Elevations and Depths" brings the album to a close in a manner that is powerful, beautiful and deeply moving, even as it snuffs out that tiny fragment of hope. Acoustic guitars and harmoniums mix with all of the elements the band have mined thus far to make for an intense swelling finale that is tragic in tone. The horror wins at the end of "The Crystal World," but not without a good fight, making the denouement that much more heartbreaking.
The effect of "Elevations" belies the grimness of "The Crystal World," and exposes a deeper humanity that runs throughout the record. There is warm beating heart at the center of the album that elevates it far beyond simple atmospheric dark ambient or doom, and makes for a deeply effecting musical experience. As I shape up my "best of" list for 2010, Locrian's "The Crystal World" looks to be a shoe-in for both its unique musical vision, and it's gut-wrenching emotionality. Highly recommended.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Animal Psi on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
-----------------------
Having groped their way fantastically into their/our demo-less Teens, Locrian enter maturity with 'The Crystal World'. Coming off the stunning display of vision on 'Territories', the pair of Hannum and Foisy now recruit collaborator Steven Hess of On to formalize a style of doom all their own, breaking sharply from the occultism (Sunn, Sleep) and rockness (Thrones, Boris) of the reigning sound to generate a musical cosmology with science-fictitious detail. A truly "high definition" release, the painstaking editing here casts such a depth as to often swallow with shadow the harmonic structures which equally break all precedence for the band. Extended intro "Triumph of Elimination" seethes with heating currents and a variety of buzzing statics; clattering like a shrapnel wind-chime, little ornaments trickle high as the ear strains to make out the approaching barrage of a droning horn, a pure wrath prophesied in shredded, Eric Wood bellows. With less than a beat of breath, "At Night's End" begins with a chant of indeterminate benevolence, the trickle now closer and the circuitry cool. It's halfway through, or nearly 10 minutes into the album that we're reminded of the guitar-derived leads which made 'Territories' such a statement. Yet this guitared sound is on it's way out, even when it arrives, as the doom sludge is always peeling upward, elevating the track, and ultimately giving way to the modular loops of John Carpenter horror ballad and title track "The Crystal World" (suitably sourced to a JG Ballard story). Guitar is almost an afterthought on "Pathogens", where Hess' percussion confirms a central, dominant position within the granular portrait: not ambient but rendered as ambiance, the image is spacious and less-figurative, but it's meant to be looked at (hard). As if to reclaim their authority over the work, "Obsidian Facades" offers just such a glassy finish of human breaths and breathy frequencies of shredded, fuzzy guitar, in the end breaking only as a reference into the theatrics of ISIS or Cave-in as a segue into the simply-massive conclusion "Elevations and Depths", a sort of 'Brief History of' Metal since 1997. Not an album to be taken for granted, 'The Crystal World' is a rich, rewarding listen and a worthy sequel to the wonder that has become Locrian. CD version also includes a second disc with the 54-minute "Extinction", in case all that bleak didn't convince you. Pro-pressed discs snugged into a heavy gatefold sleeve with stunning art by Vberkvlt. Recommended, inevitably. (Utech 2CD, $17 HERE)
-----------------------
Having groped their way fantastically into their/our demo-less Teens, Locrian enter maturity with 'The Crystal World'. Coming off the stunning display of vision on 'Territories', the pair of Hannum and Foisy now recruit collaborator Steven Hess of On to formalize a style of doom all their own, breaking sharply from the occultism (Sunn, Sleep) and rockness (Thrones, Boris) of the reigning sound to generate a musical cosmology with science-fictitious detail. A truly "high definition" release, the painstaking editing here casts such a depth as to often swallow with shadow the harmonic structures which equally break all precedence for the band. Extended intro "Triumph of Elimination" seethes with heating currents and a variety of buzzing statics; clattering like a shrapnel wind-chime, little ornaments trickle high as the ear strains to make out the approaching barrage of a droning horn, a pure wrath prophesied in shredded, Eric Wood bellows. With less than a beat of breath, "At Night's End" begins with a chant of indeterminate benevolence, the trickle now closer and the circuitry cool. It's halfway through, or nearly 10 minutes into the album that we're reminded of the guitar-derived leads which made 'Territories' such a statement. Yet this guitared sound is on it's way out, even when it arrives, as the doom sludge is always peeling upward, elevating the track, and ultimately giving way to the modular loops of John Carpenter horror ballad and title track "The Crystal World" (suitably sourced to a JG Ballard story). Guitar is almost an afterthought on "Pathogens", where Hess' percussion confirms a central, dominant position within the granular portrait: not ambient but rendered as ambiance, the image is spacious and less-figurative, but it's meant to be looked at (hard). As if to reclaim their authority over the work, "Obsidian Facades" offers just such a glassy finish of human breaths and breathy frequencies of shredded, fuzzy guitar, in the end breaking only as a reference into the theatrics of ISIS or Cave-in as a segue into the simply-massive conclusion "Elevations and Depths", a sort of 'Brief History of' Metal since 1997. Not an album to be taken for granted, 'The Crystal World' is a rich, rewarding listen and a worthy sequel to the wonder that has become Locrian. CD version also includes a second disc with the 54-minute "Extinction", in case all that bleak didn't convince you. Pro-pressed discs snugged into a heavy gatefold sleeve with stunning art by Vberkvlt. Recommended, inevitably. (Utech 2CD, $17 HERE)
Friday, December 10, 2010
Musical Warfare on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
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It’s impossible to attach a label to what Locrian have accomplished on The Crystal World, but it’s dangerously close to that elusive, perfect balance between hostile dark ambient textures and more focused and emotive metal structures. With elements from metal, ambient, drone, and noise, Locrian’s soundscapes are supremely evocative and almost soundtrack-like, like if you took Negura Bunget at their most symphonic and extended that creativity and atmosphere over an entire album, or if you took Xela’s Dead Sea and made it about 100 times darker. The Crystal World is menacing, harsh, and utterly terrifying at times, but strangely soothing and peaceful at others.
Indeed, the visceral effectiveness of The Crystal World owes as much to Locrian’s use of dynamics, contrast and song structure as it does to the the album’s frightening sonic tapestries and lurking electronics. The opening pair of songs basically amount to one massive build, with the sparse, unsettling crawl of ‘Triumph of Elimination’ giving way to the dirge-like reverence of the closing moments of ‘At Night’s End.’ The opening of ‘Obsidian Facades,’ consisting of desperate, echoing screams which evoke a 28 Days Later-like vision of utter fear and helplessness, owes much of its horrifying impact on the listener to the contrast with the subtle dynamics of the rest of the album and the softening final minutes of the song.
Elsewhere on The Crystal World, Locrian treat the listener to some sonic experimentation while still managing to maintain the dark, tense atmosphere that pervades the album. ‘Pathogens’ features a storm of nearly improvisational percussion over spacey guitar feedback, while the wailing guitars on the title track are used almost as a vocal replacement, giving an emotive edge to the backdrop of quietly mysterious keyboards and ambient distortion.
While it feels like a stretch to classify Locrian’s sound as metal, especially since The Crystal World is mostly devoid of anything resembling a power chord, it still manages to capture the genre’s aggression, its harshness, and Locrian’s music taps into the listener’s primal, subconscious mind in a similar way. The difference is that Locrian does not limit their sonic palette to fit into any particular genre or specific sound, and the result is that this music often penetrates much deeper, taking the listener to places they never thought possible.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Norman Records on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
Brett gave this 5/5.
I’m loving the feel of this fucker – lovely thick gatefold sleeves like this are almost enough to break the twelve-inch fetish of a vinyl hound. I’m also loving that this is named after (and the amazing artwork seemingly inspired by) the early JG Ballard book. The first disc here paints the picture of that titular crystal world assimilating everything in sight via doomy dark ambience, black metal soundscapes, heavy industrial drone and frequent electronic supplementation. It’s a seriously bleak scene in a lot of ways, but there’s definitely more than a touch of beauty to be found in it, particularly in ‘Elevations’ which ends the disc. The second half of this opus is taken up by just the one fifty-three minute track which goes by the name of ‘Extinction’ and can probably best be summed up by some combination of the phrase ‘more please’ with the words ‘whoa’, ‘drone’, ‘fuck’, ‘ouch’, ‘devastating’, ‘noise’ and ‘holy’. Probably with some other words between the! m. Singular and stunning – they’ve totally created a world here!
Brett gave this 5/5.
I’m loving the feel of this fucker – lovely thick gatefold sleeves like this are almost enough to break the twelve-inch fetish of a vinyl hound. I’m also loving that this is named after (and the amazing artwork seemingly inspired by) the early JG Ballard book. The first disc here paints the picture of that titular crystal world assimilating everything in sight via doomy dark ambience, black metal soundscapes, heavy industrial drone and frequent electronic supplementation. It’s a seriously bleak scene in a lot of ways, but there’s definitely more than a touch of beauty to be found in it, particularly in ‘Elevations’ which ends the disc. The second half of this opus is taken up by just the one fifty-three minute track which goes by the name of ‘Extinction’ and can probably best be summed up by some combination of the phrase ‘more please’ with the words ‘whoa’, ‘drone’, ‘fuck’, ‘ouch’, ‘devastating’, ‘noise’ and ‘holy’. Probably with some other words between the! m. Singular and stunning – they’ve totally created a world here!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Locrian Interview at Audiodrome (Italy)
You can read an interview (in Italian) with each of the three Locrian members here.
You can read Audiodrome.it's review of "The Crystal World" here.
You can read Audiodrome.it's review of "The Crystal World" here.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Ear Bleed on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
I’ve been pretty jaded/burned out from new underground music lately, and it seems like pretty much everyone else is too. Been talking to people about the negative creativity spawned by fame, as it seems like any underground musician who gets recognized lately and is thrust into blogger superstardom immediately stops growing as an artist and just churns out more and more of the same half-assed tropical/beach-pop/hypnogogic pop/shit-wave/cold-wave/chill-wave/whatever other stupid ghettoized genre music. Never been too interested in genres myself, as I’ve always felt like genrefication takes away from the music; Once it’s been stuck in a niche you have things that are expected of you and expectations of what you should sound like. And unfortunately it seems like lots of folks these days are more than happy to please the expectations of bloggers and other folks that don’t know anything about music.
Luckily none of this has anything to do with the new Locrian album “The Crystal World” on Utech. Having already neatly smashed out the walls of death metal, noise & power electronics on their previous albums, they wisely decide to keep smashing outward and take over whatever spectrums of music they end up in. Now a three piece, Locrian branch out into heavy psychedelic stoner rock (“At Night’s End”), kosmische synth jams (the instrumental title track), and strange as it may seem, psychedelic folk (“Elevation and Depths” towards the end sounds disturbingly like one of Bröselmachine’s better songs), with all 6 feet still formly rooted in the darkness and anguished screaming we know so well. Locrian’s music always has an unsettling presence lurking in the background, slowly spreading post-industrial pagan gloom over everything they touch, much like the Ballard novel the album is named after, and “The Crystal World” shows them seeping into new avenues of music and making them their own.
This is definitely the most musical thing I’ve heard from them yet, a nice change of pace in an era that doesn’t place much value on well-crafted music. Each track is a carefully-sculpted journey through Locrian’s signature sound that slowly unfolds to find something completly new hiding inside. It took me forever to review their last album, mostly because every review of it I saw was gushing praise out of every pore, and this one will probably get the same; but since they seem pretty immune to it so far I’ll go ahead and say that Locrian has once again raised the bar for themselves and suceeded in creating another incredible album that stays true to their aesthetic while still challenging themselves to make something different.
I’ve been pretty jaded/burned out from new underground music lately, and it seems like pretty much everyone else is too. Been talking to people about the negative creativity spawned by fame, as it seems like any underground musician who gets recognized lately and is thrust into blogger superstardom immediately stops growing as an artist and just churns out more and more of the same half-assed tropical/beach-pop/hypnogogic pop/shit-wave/cold-wave/chill-wave/whatever other stupid ghettoized genre music. Never been too interested in genres myself, as I’ve always felt like genrefication takes away from the music; Once it’s been stuck in a niche you have things that are expected of you and expectations of what you should sound like. And unfortunately it seems like lots of folks these days are more than happy to please the expectations of bloggers and other folks that don’t know anything about music.
Luckily none of this has anything to do with the new Locrian album “The Crystal World” on Utech. Having already neatly smashed out the walls of death metal, noise & power electronics on their previous albums, they wisely decide to keep smashing outward and take over whatever spectrums of music they end up in. Now a three piece, Locrian branch out into heavy psychedelic stoner rock (“At Night’s End”), kosmische synth jams (the instrumental title track), and strange as it may seem, psychedelic folk (“Elevation and Depths” towards the end sounds disturbingly like one of Bröselmachine’s better songs), with all 6 feet still formly rooted in the darkness and anguished screaming we know so well. Locrian’s music always has an unsettling presence lurking in the background, slowly spreading post-industrial pagan gloom over everything they touch, much like the Ballard novel the album is named after, and “The Crystal World” shows them seeping into new avenues of music and making them their own.
This is definitely the most musical thing I’ve heard from them yet, a nice change of pace in an era that doesn’t place much value on well-crafted music. Each track is a carefully-sculpted journey through Locrian’s signature sound that slowly unfolds to find something completly new hiding inside. It took me forever to review their last album, mostly because every review of it I saw was gushing praise out of every pore, and this one will probably get the same; but since they seem pretty immune to it so far I’ll go ahead and say that Locrian has once again raised the bar for themselves and suceeded in creating another incredible album that stays true to their aesthetic while still challenging themselves to make something different.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
"How bleak is it? None more bleak, my friend...Essential listening.": The One True Dead Angel on "The Crystal World"
Link here.
------
Locrian -- THE CRYSTAL WORLD [Utech Records]
Chicago's favorite audio-terror duo are back with an extra partner in sonic crime (Steven Hess of On, Pan American, and Ural Umbo, handling percussion and electronics) and a wildly ambitious double-album inspired by the 1964 J. G. Ballard classic of the same name. This time around their dense, dark, apocalyptic sound is informed as much by prog rock as black metal and noise, and their increasingly exacting approach to songwriting and the meticulous layering of sounds makes this album a significant step forward. The opening track, "Triumph of Elimination," is essentially a link back to their previous album, opening with an ominous synth drone and creeped-out electronic whining that spirals upwards in frequency until the hellish vocals arrive -- but there's a lot more happening in the background, including tinking bells and primitive rumbling sounds. along with nearly subliminal bursts of screechy electronics and more audible sounds of sonic distress before the track ends in a brief flurry of percussion. The considerably more spare "At Night's End" is dominated by spooky synth drones and wailing peals of feedback that rise and fall; as the track progresses, the synth drone grows even darker as processed sounds warble and bleat in cryptic fashion. Then slow-motion drums kick in and eerie, disembodied vocals take the track in another direction, one that's as hypnotic and strangely beautiful as it is ominous. Things take a turn for the unexpected in the title track, where a percolating synth line rises from the noise fog and is eventually joined by some extremely devolved percussion and gothic keyboard washes. The evil bass hum of "Pathogens" -- along with some extremely spaced-out cyclotron moves -- moves the sound back into more familiar territory, especially when the wind-tunnel noises appear, along with muted percussion akin to someone trying to break his way out of a buried coffin. Eventually the percussion turns into actual drumming, accompanied by morbid drone and noise, in which Hess plays one convoluted pattern with minimal changes for quite a while, in a cruel act of minimalist torture, one that continues long after the background sounds have faded out of existence. The next track, "Obsidian Facades," wastes no time getting underway, opening with bone-chilling shrieking and dissonant, crashing chords from a distorted keyboard before settling into a cold and frigid soundscape heavy on the reverb and swaddled in layers of fuzz and drone. As the track goes on, a gorgeous piano melody enters the equation; by the time the track finishes, it is the sole sound. It is followed immediately by baroque acoustic strumming as "Elevations and Depths" kicks off, a song also enriched by Gretchen Koehler's violin when the percussion and synth drones eventually arrive.
The second disc is one track, "Extinction," that lasts nearly an hour and encompasses a wide variety of sounds. Structurally speaking, it unfolds in movements dominated by different uses of sound and texture, and varying levels of intensity in both dynamics and the number of layered sounds. At times it's sparse and bleak, with just one drone or electronic sound happening; at other times it's a thick, soupy fog of harsh sounds and paralyzing drones. The movements flow from one to the next in seamless fashion, and while it definitely takes a certain level of patience to sit through a track this long, the steadily shifting dynamics and textures keep things moving in a brisk fashion. At times they revert back to thunderous walls of black, shrieking noise, with passages far harsher than anything on the first disc. There are also proggy moments, as with the first disc, but the vast bulk of what's here is more focused on grim electronic frippery, cold wailing feedback, and drones of the darkest kind. The sound itself is consistently dark and chilling, regardless of what's going on at any given moment; this is the sound of urban decay in a concrete jungle where the skyscrapers blot out the sun and the wretched refuse of humanity squats in abandoned buildings. How bleak is it? None more bleak, my friend. Bonus points for the packaging (a gatefold digipak resembling a miniature LP sleeve) and the grotesque artwork by Vberkvlt. Essential listening. Note that a vinyl edition is forthcoming sometime next year.
------
Locrian -- THE CRYSTAL WORLD [Utech Records]
Chicago's favorite audio-terror duo are back with an extra partner in sonic crime (Steven Hess of On, Pan American, and Ural Umbo, handling percussion and electronics) and a wildly ambitious double-album inspired by the 1964 J. G. Ballard classic of the same name. This time around their dense, dark, apocalyptic sound is informed as much by prog rock as black metal and noise, and their increasingly exacting approach to songwriting and the meticulous layering of sounds makes this album a significant step forward. The opening track, "Triumph of Elimination," is essentially a link back to their previous album, opening with an ominous synth drone and creeped-out electronic whining that spirals upwards in frequency until the hellish vocals arrive -- but there's a lot more happening in the background, including tinking bells and primitive rumbling sounds. along with nearly subliminal bursts of screechy electronics and more audible sounds of sonic distress before the track ends in a brief flurry of percussion. The considerably more spare "At Night's End" is dominated by spooky synth drones and wailing peals of feedback that rise and fall; as the track progresses, the synth drone grows even darker as processed sounds warble and bleat in cryptic fashion. Then slow-motion drums kick in and eerie, disembodied vocals take the track in another direction, one that's as hypnotic and strangely beautiful as it is ominous. Things take a turn for the unexpected in the title track, where a percolating synth line rises from the noise fog and is eventually joined by some extremely devolved percussion and gothic keyboard washes. The evil bass hum of "Pathogens" -- along with some extremely spaced-out cyclotron moves -- moves the sound back into more familiar territory, especially when the wind-tunnel noises appear, along with muted percussion akin to someone trying to break his way out of a buried coffin. Eventually the percussion turns into actual drumming, accompanied by morbid drone and noise, in which Hess plays one convoluted pattern with minimal changes for quite a while, in a cruel act of minimalist torture, one that continues long after the background sounds have faded out of existence. The next track, "Obsidian Facades," wastes no time getting underway, opening with bone-chilling shrieking and dissonant, crashing chords from a distorted keyboard before settling into a cold and frigid soundscape heavy on the reverb and swaddled in layers of fuzz and drone. As the track goes on, a gorgeous piano melody enters the equation; by the time the track finishes, it is the sole sound. It is followed immediately by baroque acoustic strumming as "Elevations and Depths" kicks off, a song also enriched by Gretchen Koehler's violin when the percussion and synth drones eventually arrive.
The second disc is one track, "Extinction," that lasts nearly an hour and encompasses a wide variety of sounds. Structurally speaking, it unfolds in movements dominated by different uses of sound and texture, and varying levels of intensity in both dynamics and the number of layered sounds. At times it's sparse and bleak, with just one drone or electronic sound happening; at other times it's a thick, soupy fog of harsh sounds and paralyzing drones. The movements flow from one to the next in seamless fashion, and while it definitely takes a certain level of patience to sit through a track this long, the steadily shifting dynamics and textures keep things moving in a brisk fashion. At times they revert back to thunderous walls of black, shrieking noise, with passages far harsher than anything on the first disc. There are also proggy moments, as with the first disc, but the vast bulk of what's here is more focused on grim electronic frippery, cold wailing feedback, and drones of the darkest kind. The sound itself is consistently dark and chilling, regardless of what's going on at any given moment; this is the sound of urban decay in a concrete jungle where the skyscrapers blot out the sun and the wretched refuse of humanity squats in abandoned buildings. How bleak is it? None more bleak, my friend. Bonus points for the packaging (a gatefold digipak resembling a miniature LP sleeve) and the grotesque artwork by Vberkvlt. Essential listening. Note that a vinyl edition is forthcoming sometime next year.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Cześć - A review from Metal Center for our Polish friends
Link here. Thanks to Patryk!
Muzyka: psychedelic/drone/noise/ambient
Strona: www.myspace.com/thelocrian
Kraj: USA
Czas: 00:47:43
Dobre tytuły: wszystkie
Amerykański duet z Chicago powraca. Po wydaniu wspaniałego albumu „Territories” zawierającego gwiazdy Chicagowskiej sceny, kiedyś duet (teraz trio) wydało album pod nazwą „The Crystal World”. Album jak zwykle szokujący klimatem i napawający dziwnymi uczuciami.
Nowa twarz w LOCRIAN, którą jest Steven Hess rozbudował muzykę do jeszcze bardziej niespokojnego brzmienia, tym razem jeszcze bardziej wzmocnionego poprzez perkusję i dodatkową elektronikę.
„The Crystal World” prezentuje nową jakość muzyki LOCRIAN. Całkowicie odświeżona z dodatkiem perkusji, tym razem dla większości sceptycznych słuchaczy melodia również jest bardziej słyszalna jeśliby to nazwać melodią, a nie mantrą... To można rozumieć już zależnie od punktu widzenia. Jendi mogą zrozumieć nową płytę LOCRIAN jako eksperyment instrumentalny, a inni jako podróż do ciemnej strony własnego umysłu akompaniowanej dźwiękami LOCRIAN.
Jak już wspomniałem nowością na tej płycie jest dodatek perkusji i dodatkowej elektroniki. Pojawiają się w kawałkach nikłe bito-podobne dźwięki, perkusja natomiast nadaje całej muzyce potężne i jeszcze bardziej mroczne niż dotychczas brzmienie. Być może dlatego też, że chłopaki z Chicago w każdym albumie wrzucają coś nowego, ani zespół ani płyta nie powodują nudy pomimo tego co grają. Dla porównania warto wspomnieć, że dużo bardziej „skocznych” zespołów ostatnimi czasy przyprawia mnie o ziewanie.
Nie ma sensu wymieniać i opisywać kawałek po kawałku. Po pierwsze dlatego, że każdy jest świetny i nie ma do nich żadnego porównania. Po drugie ich nie da się opisać, trzeba je po prostu przesłuchać. Za każdym razem słuchając tego samego utworu można zauważyć coś nowego oraz można mieć inne wzbudzenie emocji zależnie od tego w jakmi stanie się aktualnie znajdujemy słuchając. Muzyka ta pomimo tego, że jest mroczna, czasem senstymentalna, chora i psychodeliczna, wierzcie mi lub nie, pasuje do każdego nastroju. W ciągu dnia może uspokoić, odciągnąć od zgiełku. W nocy może wzbudzać strach, przywołać sentymentalne wspomnienia lub podświadomie zmusić do refleksji. Na tym albumie pojawiają się nawet wokale brzmiące jakby przepełnione bólem. Gościnnie znajdują tu się również partie na skrzypcach oraz kobiecy głos.
„The Crystal World” to koncept bazowany na powiści JG Ballard’a z 1964 roku opowiadająca o fizyku, który wyrusza wgłąb afrykańskiej dżungli odkryć jej zagadkę, według której dżungla ta powoli zaczyna się krystalizować. Album ma się oficjalnie ukazać 27 listopada w dwupłytowej postaci. Pierwsza płyta to sześć utworów, o której jest recenzja, natomiast druga, która jeszcze jest zagadką dla ucha ma zawierać jeden prawie godzinny utwór „Extinction”. Według LOCRIAN ten kawałek ma być podsumowaniem całego albumu. Nie wątpie, że taki będzie. „The Crystal World” jest wspaniała, lecz trudna do opisania w całości oraz detalami. Dlatego jak wspominałem, co również polecam – należy przesłuchać utwory z tego albumu, żeby zrozumieć o jakiej wspaniałości jest mowa.
Muzyka: psychedelic/drone/noise/ambient
Strona: www.myspace.com/thelocrian
Kraj: USA
Czas: 00:47:43
Dobre tytuły: wszystkie
Amerykański duet z Chicago powraca. Po wydaniu wspaniałego albumu „Territories” zawierającego gwiazdy Chicagowskiej sceny, kiedyś duet (teraz trio) wydało album pod nazwą „The Crystal World”. Album jak zwykle szokujący klimatem i napawający dziwnymi uczuciami.
Nowa twarz w LOCRIAN, którą jest Steven Hess rozbudował muzykę do jeszcze bardziej niespokojnego brzmienia, tym razem jeszcze bardziej wzmocnionego poprzez perkusję i dodatkową elektronikę.
„The Crystal World” prezentuje nową jakość muzyki LOCRIAN. Całkowicie odświeżona z dodatkiem perkusji, tym razem dla większości sceptycznych słuchaczy melodia również jest bardziej słyszalna jeśliby to nazwać melodią, a nie mantrą... To można rozumieć już zależnie od punktu widzenia. Jendi mogą zrozumieć nową płytę LOCRIAN jako eksperyment instrumentalny, a inni jako podróż do ciemnej strony własnego umysłu akompaniowanej dźwiękami LOCRIAN.
Jak już wspomniałem nowością na tej płycie jest dodatek perkusji i dodatkowej elektroniki. Pojawiają się w kawałkach nikłe bito-podobne dźwięki, perkusja natomiast nadaje całej muzyce potężne i jeszcze bardziej mroczne niż dotychczas brzmienie. Być może dlatego też, że chłopaki z Chicago w każdym albumie wrzucają coś nowego, ani zespół ani płyta nie powodują nudy pomimo tego co grają. Dla porównania warto wspomnieć, że dużo bardziej „skocznych” zespołów ostatnimi czasy przyprawia mnie o ziewanie.
Nie ma sensu wymieniać i opisywać kawałek po kawałku. Po pierwsze dlatego, że każdy jest świetny i nie ma do nich żadnego porównania. Po drugie ich nie da się opisać, trzeba je po prostu przesłuchać. Za każdym razem słuchając tego samego utworu można zauważyć coś nowego oraz można mieć inne wzbudzenie emocji zależnie od tego w jakmi stanie się aktualnie znajdujemy słuchając. Muzyka ta pomimo tego, że jest mroczna, czasem senstymentalna, chora i psychodeliczna, wierzcie mi lub nie, pasuje do każdego nastroju. W ciągu dnia może uspokoić, odciągnąć od zgiełku. W nocy może wzbudzać strach, przywołać sentymentalne wspomnienia lub podświadomie zmusić do refleksji. Na tym albumie pojawiają się nawet wokale brzmiące jakby przepełnione bólem. Gościnnie znajdują tu się również partie na skrzypcach oraz kobiecy głos.
„The Crystal World” to koncept bazowany na powiści JG Ballard’a z 1964 roku opowiadająca o fizyku, który wyrusza wgłąb afrykańskiej dżungli odkryć jej zagadkę, według której dżungla ta powoli zaczyna się krystalizować. Album ma się oficjalnie ukazać 27 listopada w dwupłytowej postaci. Pierwsza płyta to sześć utworów, o której jest recenzja, natomiast druga, która jeszcze jest zagadką dla ucha ma zawierać jeden prawie godzinny utwór „Extinction”. Według LOCRIAN ten kawałek ma być podsumowaniem całego albumu. Nie wątpie, że taki będzie. „The Crystal World” jest wspaniała, lecz trudna do opisania w całości oraz detalami. Dlatego jak wspominałem, co również polecam – należy przesłuchać utwory z tego albumu, żeby zrozumieć o jakiej wspaniałości jest mowa.
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.
---------------------------------
You can also listen an audio interview with Locrian here.
-----------------
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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