Lifeforms – Multidimensional | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 1944 Views

Today we have reviewer ‘Dev Arbikshe‘ reviewing the new album from Lifeforms titled ‘Multidimensional‘ released via Lifeforce Records.

Lifeforms – Multidimensional

Tracklist:
01. Descent Into Madness
02. Multidimensional
03. Illogical
04. String Theory
05. The Ones
06. Digitize
07. Reflections II
08. Paradox
09. Interlude
10. Home

Music is one of those art forms which tops any other art form because it comprises of sound, poetry (in form of lyrics) and is compact in that it is brief compared to other art forms. But what makes it unique is that it can unfold a story of its own in such short time!
Multidimensional is one such album that achieves this feat. And it is not every day that you come across an album which has a compact beginning, middle and an end.  But I’d be honest I didn’t like the songs at first.,as the vocals seemed guttural and yet I couldn’t overlook the melodic elements and the impact of songs as a whole.  The songs here somehow reminded me of the trailer to the album ‘’Kolossus’’ by’’ Keeps of Kalessin’’ which is as good as any trailer of a movie based on ancient mythology. The point is ‘’Lifeforms’’ knows what they are doing and the messages are put across through their music.
The title ‘’Multidimensional’’ says it all. There is so much to explore here. There are no compromised fillers and every song has something in it which is unique and a reason enough not to skip any of the songs. But this is one of those offerings which is best enjoyed with going in for it without any pre-conceived ideas or expectations. This is not an album to be compared with other benchmark records in this genre like that of Born of Osiris ‘’ The Discovery’’. And to limit something by defining it as a part of particular genre is creating obstacles in enjoying music for what it is. The quintet of’’ Lifeforms’’ has amalgamated the elements of death core, djent and progressive music creating an animal with its own life.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0aLiDslbFo?rel=0]

To me every song conjured up an imagery creating a story in images with each passing second without even worrying about lyrics. For instance ‘illogical’ gave me chills and conjured up an imagery of badass killer bees flying with swords! The hurricane like atmosphere is the striking element of this album which bludgeons its way into your head and out of it. It will surely knock your socks off.

There is no dearth of chugging breakdowns. The test of good music is that it gets stuck in your head and that cannot be the case if the songs are not ‘’multidimensional’’. But the music that grows on you is even better as it stays on your playlist for long without the listener getting bored of it. This is a crossbreed of melody and’ in your face ‘straight-up no nonsense tunes. ‘’Multidimensional ‘’will reveal itself in layers on every listen. There is so much that can be written about the songs but there’s no point dissecting them here. I’d leave it to you to find out. From dismissing it at first listen to getting lost in its amazing diverse layers, it sure is a reminder not to pigeonhole music and stay open.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVoYpXylXbE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Sanath Kumar • No Comments on Lifeforms – Multidimensional | Review

Supuration – CU3E | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 4093 Views

Today we have the Old Disgruntled Bastard reviewing the new album from Supuration titled CU3E, released via Listenable Records.

Supuration – CUBE

Tracklist:
1. Sinergy Awakes 05:42
2. Introversion 04:06
3. The Disenthrall 02:17
4. Consumate 06:00
5. The Incongruents 03:33
6. The Delegation 05:24
7. Data Dance 05:04
8. The Flight 03:39
9. The Climax 05:09

‘I have sat inside the tub half filled with water. I have run the flat of the blade over my skin, felt its gelid menace slither invitingly across my veins. I have watched the waters turn russet with the slivers of a thousand unconsummated dreams. Moments like aeons I have spent hovering over my erstwhile shell, watching my mother cradle my head in her arms. Without mooring, I have languished, lost and confused, in limbo, an infinitesimal point of energy with no anatomical compass, yet a mute witness to the senseless pain, internecine and futile, that I have  inflicted on myself, and my kith and kin. I am suffering a second postpartum death, a severance from Mother Life herself, seeking a way out of this interstitial, cosmic funhouse, to escape past failures and misgivings that haunt me from around every corner. Has it been seconds or seasons, has time ceased to hold all meaning? Weary and discombobulated, I wander in search of …what? Salvation? Reunification? Termination?

I see something in the far distance, refulgent as it draws close. Closer still, and I can now see it is a cube. It cuts through me in a painless embrace, imprisoning me inside its translucent walls. I look out through them and realize that I have lost all sensation of space. We bob in a sea of nothingness, though not in desolation for there are other cubes around, just like mine. Containing others, just like me?’

That, to paraphrase, is the starting premise of Supuration‘s Cube saga, now in its third installment, each spread ten years apart from the other, but one that, I presume, has been expounded on in the band’s other incarnation as S.U.P. (Spherical Unit Provided). Supuration’s under-appreciated debut from 1993, ‘The Cube’, displayed a perfect balance of death/doom metal, tinged with elements from traditional heavy metal and thrash, sifted through a distinctly Voivod-ian sieve. The follow-up ‘Incubation’ elaborated on the story from a pregnant woman’s perspective, each song denoting a month in the gestation cycle, the seed inside belonging to the character from the debut, now in the throes of rebirth. It is an intriguing concept, but Incubation, while still being memorable, went too far in compromising the subtle grittiness of the first LP, adopting a more intrusive goth-metal sentimentality that was all the rage in the mid-90s.

Fortunately, CU3E sees Supuration returning to the style of their debut, amplifying the rougher edges yet adamantly, and refreshingly, refusing to entertain any modern-day fads. This is fervently old-school metal, in tone, matter, and spirit. Supuration‘s technicality doesn’t derive from any overstated prowess at instruments, but from an understanding of dynamics and a powerful harmonic unity. Often, power lies in words that aren’t said, in notes that aren’t played; Supuration demonstrate the axiom to the fullest. They are a band of words and images, and I imagine their approach to songwriting provides the optimum platform for dispersing their ideas.

Supuration aren’t an overly aggressive band. Sure, there is a seething undercurrent of darkness and mystery in their music, but these are songs that could be called mellow, idyllic even, though admittedly by a somewhat twisted imagination. The drumming rarely steps outside established heavy metal norms, almost never resorting to death metal staples. The music is a hybrid of Scandinavian death metal, early works of the Peaceville doom trio, and the more accessible sound that they, along with the likes of Rotting Christ, Moonspell, Septic Flesh, and others, went on to adopt as the 90s wore on. It serves well to remember, however, that Supuration were their contemporaries in every possible manner and not just con artists that arrived at the scene post-event.

Ludovic Loez’s vocals during the cleaner, robotic sections, are heavily inspired by Snake from Voivod, as is the band’s use of dissonant, “pulsing” chords, so common on Dimension Hatross and Nothing Face. It seems a happy coincidence that both bands have released  great, come back albums this year. Supuration also make sparing use of choirs to emphasize a certain dreamlike quality so central to their lyrical concept. The songs work well enough as stand alones – ‘Consumate’ has a main refrain that reminds me of Metallica‘s Orion, ‘The Delegation’ has a chorus infectious as the Spanish Flu, and there are classic hooks scattered throughout – but there is a central thread running from start to finish. CU3E is an album, first and foremost, a quality rarely found in modern heavy metal. And therein lies Supuration‘s greatest triumph.

Just a beautiful old school metal album that has a little in it for everybody.

Sanath Kumar • 2 Comments on Supuration – CU3E | Review

Cerekloth – In the Midst of Life we are in Death | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 2086 Views

We have Jayaprakash Satyamurthy reviewing Cerekloth’s new LP ‘In the Midst of Life we are in Death‘, released via Hells Headbangers Records.

Cerekloth – In the Midst of Life we are in Death

Tracklist:
1.Praeludium
2.Born Of The Void
3.Within The Hollow Crown
4.Halo Of Syringes
5.Nest Of Disease
6.Mesmerizing Holy Death
7.When Outcast Become Kings
8.The Reapers Instant Is Our Eternity

Cerekloth draws from the more deliberate, doomy side of the classic death metal sound. Autopsy, Cianide, some Obituary – these are obvious reference points. So you know from the outset not to expect blinding speeds and technicality. What counts is whether Cerekloth have the songs to sustain the atmosphere they’re trying to create. On the evidence of their first full-length, they do.

‘Halo of Syringes’ was previously released on an EP, and it’s easily the centerpiece of this album. The massive, purposeful sound conjures up an atmosphere of inescapable desolation. The vocals, a little like early  Chuck or Reifert, add to the nightmarish vibe. The questing, ominous melodies and layers remind me a little of Ulcerate as well.

The album opener, ‘Preludium/Born of the World’ begins with a long, sludgy instrumental in which half-glimpsed melodies seem to weave in and out of a haze of distorted guitars. The tension slowly builds, ably assisted by the rhythm section, and about three minutes into this track, we’re firmly in slow, doomy death metal territory. Once again, I have to mention how apropos the melodies on this album are. Melody, glibly taken to be an absolute good and hastily added to the generic bag of tricks, has been the downfall of large numbers of modern metal acts, in my opinion. Tunes that would not be out of place on an ABBA record or at a polka revival, with ruddy-cheeked accordion players in their hordes and big-bosomed dancers in dirndls in attendance, are somehow passed off as metal and blared out to clueless fans who mosh along blissfully and imagine they’re actually into heavy music. Those aren’t the kind of melodies Cerekloth deals in; instead, they take us back to Slayer in their heyday, to Autopsy at their most morbid, dealing out melodies that unnerve and forebode.

Stream the entire album from the Bandcamp player below:

‘Mesmerising Holy Death’ is another standout track, living up to its title. Steady, implacable drums support a sluggish, misanthropic riff. Deep, guttural vocals gurgle out what are no doubt horrific tales through a song that keeps threatening to roar into full-speed mayhem, but instead builds the suspense by retaining its moderate pace while hinting at a release of power to come. Instead, there’s a long, flowing solo with a strangely watery tone that manages not to sound out of place at all. Cerekloth may not be working in the most original idiom, but they’re still here to play by their own rules.

Other highlights include the epic album closer, ‘The Reaper’s Instant Is Our Eternity’ and the riffing on ’Within The Hollow Crown’. The vocals are consistently strong throughout the album, never just a generic grunt but a twisted, gut wrenching wordstew that adds palpably to the impact of each song. The drum work is tight and sure, varying between a half-time feel and mid-tempo blasting, but the real stars here are the guitarist who have a massive, funebreal tone and the tunes to match.

Sanath Kumar • No Comments on Cerekloth – In the Midst of Life we are in Death | Review

High Priest of Saturn (self-titled) | Review

Mar 22 • International News, Releases, Reviews, The Slumbering Ent • 1978 Views

Jayaprakash Satyamurthy reviews the new self-titled from High Priest of Saturn released via Svart Records.

High Priest of Saturn (self-titled)

Tracklist:

1. The Protean Towers
2. Kraken Mare
3. Crawling King Snake
4. On Mayda Insula

How much is enough? There are musical genres that thrive on dynamism and variety. Then there are genres where you accept, even expect a certain stasis – drone for example, or ambient music. A lot of doom metal (not all!) falls under this category – think of the mesmeric iterations of an Electric Wizard or Reverend Bizarre song. Certainly, the occult-tinged newcomers High Priest Of Saturn fall into this camp. Their songs are long, falling between 9 and 12 minutes, and there isn’t a lot of variation in tune or tempo on display. So what one looks for is a combination of mood, layering and perhaps some instrumental lead breaks. The songs do invoke a definite atmosphere with their ponderous riffs, something dark, serene and earthy, not unlike the state of mind conjured up by Alunah, another female-fronted band with pagan and occult leanings. The instrumental mix also helps keeps the texture interesting, with a prominent organ either following the riffs or providing its own twist to the proceedings. There’s a nicely overdriven bass that breaks out of the mix now and then and the guitarist has great tone and a nice line in meandering solo lines. The singer is a little generic, and there really isn’t the greatest variation in her vocal patterns from one song to the next. Then again, the songs themselves are all cut from the same cloth (a sort of homespun cotton, practical and dark but with some elegant touches of embroidery, to capitalize on the metaphor), so what we have here is an album with a great unity of tone and device.

But is it enough? I’m not quite sure, and yet I’m not sure that greater variety was ever in the band’s masterplan. There are doom bands who seize on Iommi’s keep-them-guessing songcraft and thoughtfully (or sometimes willfully) vary their songs with interludes and tempo shifts  – later Cathedral comes to mind, or trad doomsters Lord Vicar. Even Electric Wizard, the masters (and mistress) of the riff that stretches from here to the horizon actually have a fair amount of dynamics and shifts in their songs once you settle in and get into the groove. These songs are a lot more static, and there isn’t a single deviation from the midtempo groove anywhere in sight. Instead, the band takes its time, giving the riffs time to ebb and flow with occasional wave-crests of solo improvisation breaking out. The vocals come and go, more like a ritual chant than anything else, and there are subtle climaxes and plateaus like the extended keyboard and guitar solos in the middle of ‘On Mayda Insula’.

Ultimately, this isn’t the kind of album that makes an instant impact. I don’t think it’s likely to evoke strong passions in a listener, but it is a very pleasant, gorgeously gloomy ride. The slow, majestic riffs, the laidback jams and the overall consistency of atmosphere are all quite effective. It’s like riding through hills that likely contain great natural beauty, but are currently veiled with thick mist. A few more stand-out melodies and some vocal hooks would have gone a long way towards creating a more memorable debut, but if you’re in the mood for mystery, melancholy and things seen from afar in half-light, you could do worse than spin this album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vts0rgakGo8

Sanath Kumar • No Comments on High Priest of Saturn (self-titled) | Review