All Will Gather To The Shores - Deity Of Ruin

And now for the new release.

All Will Gather To The Shores have crafted something far more abrasive and far more interesting with Deity Of Ruin. Sounds and effects blare and fade, intermixed with distinct and heavily distorted harsh vocals on this release much like they did on the previous. Everything feels more refined, and from beginning to end, Deity Of Ruin feels like a grand escapade towards an abstract land or cosmic goal. Ironically the track titled "Journey" happens to be one of the best on here.

The rattling, jarring opener "Captivity" sets things in motion as Deity Of Ruin begins sculpting its sonic landscape from whale bones and the ashes of modernity. "Machine" is interesting in that it features subtle drumwork and even a few fills along with All Will Gather To The Shores' fuzzy, low guitars. The blaring high register notes are the sounds I would imagine the earth would make as humanity scars its landscape with mines and refineries. Some tracks, like these two, are less subtle than those on Their Bodies Clutter The Sea. The distant roaring of "Journey," and the electric guitar-driven "Ashore" are both similar to the openers in this regard.

As the more subtle, dark ambient track "Mist" gives way to the comparatively lighthearted "Relief," the sonic landscape appears to be reaching completion. The general picture of Deity Of Ruin has already been established by the end of "Relief," whose guitar keeps building in decibels as it goes. "Journey" follows up and sets the action in motion aboard the decrepit world stage. Soft, clean guitarwork dotted with a very light post rock sound guides the listener over crevasses, empty valleys, vast oceans, and tortured cities. The vocals on this track are fantastic, subdued and distant in the mix, and a subtle reminder of all that is wrong with the planet Deity Of Ruin has built. They trail off, fade in, and eventually the distorted, gated guitar brings the world to its knees in a calamitous finale.

"Island" is far more quiet and introspective, guided almost entirely by acoustic guitars. It makes for a nice follow up to "Journey" before the catchy drone riffing of "Ashore." The vocals on "Ashore" are raspy and almost black metallish, contrasting from the primal, world-roar of "Journey." Granted they're all heavily distorted so it makes little difference, but just something I noticed. "Beyond" closes the album out with distant sounds of gulls and waves, returning the world to the water in which it was born.

There are numerous instances on Deity Of Ruin which grant it the added tag of doom along with ambient, drone, and psychedelic noise. The riffing is distorted, fuzzy, heavy, and some of it is constant enough to put it in the drone doom realm. The use of strings is honestly what makes this such an interesting release for me, and the atmosphere that All Will Gather To The Shores create on Deity Of Ruin is stark on multiple levels.

Deity Of Ruin makes me think again about Herakleitos, impermanence, and post modernity. Any album that makes me contemplate...things is good in my books.

8.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:
1. Captivity
2. Machine
3. Mist
4. Relief
5. Journey
6. lsland
7. Ashore
8. Beyond

Bandcamp

All Will Gather To The Shores - Their Bodies Clutter The Sea

I'm going to cover both of Russian act All Will Gather To The Shores' releases. This is their first release, Their Bodies Clutter The Sea.

Drone and ambient work well with psychedelic. The visual aspect of psychedelic has always been the main draw, and as I'm finding out now, the main draw for drone, ambient, and noise. Unlike most purely electronic or synthetic ambient or drone, All Will Gather To The Shores utilize subtle and limited strings and extremely distorted, low-mixed vocals. The latter pop up infrequently, and on this release only on "Gale" and "Calm." "Gale" is appropriately the least soothing with its noisy, distorted looping and dissonant chord transitions. As a concept it serves quite nicely, although it isn't the most compelling track.

Follow up tracks "Hope" and "Despair" are two sides of the same coin with "Hope" being guided by relatively peaceful string sounds. It's nice coming from "Gale" but since the track is barely over a minute "Despair" slowly kicks in, which is surprisingly less melancholy than the name. It's a lackadaisical track, like basking on the sun-baked deck of a ship left adrift after a monstrous storm. "Calm," the longest and most acutely developed track on the album is much more solemn in its development. The soft strings kick in before the vocals do - as harsh and distorted as ever - until they fade to light guitars and a droning outro.

The guitar tone is of note on Their Bodies Clutter The Sea. It's doomy, heavy, and distorted, and the higher register notes sound like the audio interpretation of sun rays beating down onto sunburnt backs. In a way, Their Bodies Clutter The Sea almost evokes a desert image in that regard.

A solid, but slightly underdeveloped taster of the sound that would await on Deity Of Ruin.

6.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:
1. Gale
2. Hope
3. Despair
4. Calm

Bandcamp

Njiqahdda - Serpents In The Sky

Njiqahdda occupy a unique subrealm of the USBM scene. The Illinois duo have shifted styles multiple times. with droning ambient, psychedelia, black metal, doom metal, and even spritzes of technical death metal finding a way into their eclectic sound. Serpents In The Sky is another paradigm shift for a band that is always willing to progress their sound in whatever direction they see fit, and this time that direction happens to be towards the heavens.

Serpents In The Sky is a blissful array of black, stoner doom metal ascendancy. While many fans have decried the simplification of Njiqahdda's complex sound on The Path Of Liberation From Birth To Death, I for one welcome this change. I greatly enjoyed that album, and while this album is a far cry from it musically, some elements of their previous sound(s) remain: fresh chord progressions, distorted vocals, insightful lyrics, and a solid production all combine to create an atmosphere of transcendent nirvana.

I believe the first thing that hit me about Serpents was the more direct riffing style. I'm not sure if Ain (the rhythm component of the duo) had more input in the songwriting process or not, but this album contains far more droning melodies and simple doom metal riffing patterns than some of their previous work. The tracks don't suffer because of this, but they are certainly easier to retain. The occasional noise segments are still present, but are mostly embellishments at the beginning or end of tracks than fully-realized musical elements. Intelligible vocals, both harsh and clean, by Ihr and Ain are an enjoyable facet of Njiqahdda's music that are clearly more present on Serpents as well. The distortion applied to the vocals adds some interplay to the low mixed, high gain guitars. The bass tone remains oddly dry just like it did on their previous releases although it is mixed slightly lower, but the mastering feels lower in volume anyway now that I think about it.

This album is far more "beautiful" than The Path Of Liberation with all its chromaticism and unpredictability, although that one was beautiful in its own right. The droning title track of Serpents is the apex of the album's beauteous atmosphere with its memorable use of pleasant yet dark sounding chords. The previous tracks all leave hints with these chords' musical relatives popping up on the comparatively aggressive "She Which Water Holds," and prelude "Exclave." The earlier tracks on the album are far more black metal in nature with blastbeats, harsh vocals, and harder-hitting riffs all playing integral parts in conveying Serpents In The Sky's complex atmosphere. It's almost as you can feel yourself lifting off of a hard, barren planet's surface and into a swirling cloud of stars as the album progresses from "Gaia" to "...And The Men Behind The Sun." Speaking of which, the seventeen-and-a-half minute closer is a bit underwhelming following the whole build up to the accessible title track. Whatever the case it does successfully end the engrossing sonic journey.

I'm all for change if a band is able to handle the transition with some integrity, and Njiqahdda have done just that with Serpents In The Sky. While not as directly unique as some of their previous albums, this release is still memorable and contains much of Njiqahdda's special sound.

8.5 out of 10

Tracklisting:
1. Gaia
2. The Veil Of Allaeius
3. With Clouds
4. She Which Water Holds
5. Exclave
6. Serpents In The Sky...
7. ...And The Men Behind The Sun

Bandcamp

Swans - The Seer

Maybe I'll extend this "weekend" into the week. Music is surprisingly back on my mind with a few new releases, and a let up on my workload means I can finally check in more often. Coming down to the end of the year, it's about time to start covering all that I want to and haven't so far. Here's The Seer.

Swans is a challenging act that has a long and intensive backlog of records, although their breakup in the late '90s left a big gap in their discography. Other than Filth and a few tracks here and there, I can't say I've really gone out of my way to listen to them. The hype for Swans' return and the whole post-punk aesthetic and the DIY marketing of their releases led me to look into their material. The Seer doesn't impress. Before you aneurysm, let me explain.

The Seer is a unique album. There's plenty in the ways of instrumental variety, atmosphere, and layering that make it a standout release. I was absolutely floored by "Avatar" and "The Apostate." Both are marvelously droning masterworks and will have you enthralled from beginning to end. The bells and chimes of the former evoke an eerie atmosphere of nostalgia combined with the theatrics of a funeral procession. Like it should sound by that description, the music on these tracks is immersing and powerful. It is something I wish The Seer had more of.

The Seer is an ambitious album, and a good portion of the album comes off as flat. That's a big deal when the album is two hours long and best enjoyed while actively listening. With the variety comes a wide range of emotions, sounds, and arrangements that some people will undoubtedly applaud. Each track on The Seer seems to express some new feeling through it's droning simplicity and layering. The title track embodies this wide range of ideas itself, yet really doesn't explore any of that range in full. To me, this is both a blessing and a curse. The album doesn't tend to explore familiar territory, but sometimes it passes over new ground without taking a stop to admire the scenery. "Song For A Warrior" and "Mother Of The World" in particular come across as underdeveloped. The first being nearly akin to an early '90s bubblegum-pop throwback is particularly painful to listen to (coming from someone who enjoys Sorrow) while "Mother Of The World" is a song that never really goes anywhere over it's ten minutes. Both are hackneyed lyrically and there's really nothing "deep" or remotely interesting to hear here.

The post-rock and post-punk elements are alive and well on The Seer even if some of the atmosphere falls flat. Guitars are often distorted and low in the mix, drums are immense, and the overall feel of the album combined with the atmosphere is one that weighs down on your shoulders after listening. When Swans wants to, they work instruments together in a layered drone pattern, weaving soundscapes that leave you entranced. They manage to properly apply it to the odd dissonant tracks like "93 Ave. B Blues" and the more ambient "A Piece Of The Sky"where screeching and static are reminders of the noise scene Swans came out of. It's wonderful when done subtly on the second part of the title track "The Seer Returns" too. Definitely a piece I overlooked on my first listen. It really goes to show not all droning music is dull and sometimes repeated listens can change your opinion of an album like this. I'm sure the rock and punk elements make it more bearable to listen to repeatedly as well.

After all that, I still feel like this album is one that really missed the mark with me. Perhaps I was expecting too much, or perhaps I was hoping for something a bit more engrossing. The Seer's few uncompelling tracks really bring down the whole, and I have to take a step out of the atmosphere to find the 'next' button on repeated listens. Basically it's hit or miss as a contextually compelling album, but strong in it's individual tracks if that makes any sense.

I can definitely see why Michael Gira expressed his feeling that The Seer was unfinished.

6.0 out of 10

Tracklisting:

1. Lunacy
2. Mother of the World
3. The Wolf
4. The Seer
5. The Seer Returns
6. 93 Ave. B Blues
7. The Daughter Brings the Water
8. Song for a Warrior
9. Avatar
10. A Piece of the Sky
11. The Apostate

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