Genre: Post-Metal
Country: United States of America
Label: Sargent House
Year: 2016
Words are useless when someone refers to these gentlemen. It’s the sixth album for the trio from Chicago, IL and their third for ‘Sargent House’. Not unlike their five previous releases, they do what they know how to do best and that’s nothing more or less than pure instrumental post-metal combined with their classic finishing touch that helped them popularize themselves and the genre worldwide while pushing their limits a bit for once again.
‘Asa’ puts us slowly and steadily on our trip by radiating an ethereal and calm atmosphere, but you know what they say. There isn’t calm as great as the one before the storm. It begins with ‘Vorel’, one of my favorite songs and the first single of the record. Here we can all agree on the choice of Kurt Ballou (God City Studio) for recording and mixing it as he is well-known for his ability to transfer the power and massive sound that a band needs on the physically captured records he takes charge to bring to life. We carry on with two more songs (‘Mota’, ‘Afrika’) that present a familiar side of the band with its famous breaks of the drums and bass duo and the multilayered guitar spreading towards an epic momentum. ‘Guidance’ will grow on you for its ups and downs that most of us will identify with and for once more we’re falling… We’re lost in the sweet and nostalgic melodies of ‘Overboard’ and the emptiness before the break of rage. Russian Circles are raging with ‘Calla’, possibly the most powerful point of the record, as the schizophrenic face of modern man rises through ominous guitars and concrete-like drumming. The album offers one last surprise in its closure. The band inducts a new style with ‘Lisboa’, post-sludge aesthetics where the tempos get slower and the downfall is terrifying. It is possibly the best way to end an album.
Despite the review on parts, the record stands as a whole and probably that’s the way the band perceives it, if you notice the way the songs are stapled together. In its entirety it’s maybe the best criticism in the desecration of human ethics and without even speaking a word…
5/6
