ION for Experimental/Post-Metal

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Hailing from the grim and frostbitten land of San Francisco, ION are a relatively new black metal ensemble that released their self-titled debut in 2014.

According to Aquarius Records, "We
must admit, we don't know too much about these mysterious local
post-metallers. Here's what we do know: They're from San Francisco (we
think?), this is their debut full length (maybe??), and they're called
Ion (we're actually pretty sure about that one). Oh, and they play
totally killer, frenzied, chaotic, hyperblasting post black metal. Ion
are all about contrasts: Beautifully melancholic melodic riffs suddenly
dissipate into a whirling disarray of dissonance. Frantic blast beats
give way to wide open minimal spaciousness before becoming enveloped
again in an avalanche of buzzing guitars and pummeling drums. The vocals
alternate between anguished rasps and bellowed death metal growls.
During their downtime, the songs may descend into disembodied shortwave
ambience. Hushed acoustic guitars haunt the landscape. A full five
minutes may go by spent on reverb soaked drifting sonic post-rock bliss,
before the music erupts again into a wall-of-noise onslaught of rolling
double bass and grinding guitars. The affect is certainly suffocating,
overwhelming and emotionally draining, but also somehow sleek,
postmodern and bleak, kind of bringing to mind Altar Of Plagues' last
record that we loved so much around these parts. And although Ion are
definitely melodic (even downright pretty) and certainly fit comfortably
into the post-black metal spectrum, their music feels too technical and
scatterbrained to stand right alongside bands like Alcest or Deafheaven
(although there's no reason they won't appeal to fans of those bands).
Instead their relentless approach, while still maintaining a constant
ear for lush melody, recalls someone like Panopticon. Meanwhile the
hints of Isis-style doom and prog-metal flirtation bring to mind bands
like Vatnett Viskar or even a much less earthy Agalloch. It's one of our
favorite things here at aQ when a local band we've never even heard of
comes out of the blue with a release this good. We're thinking they
won't be going unnoticed much longer!"

ION
http://iontheband.bandcamp.com/

Edited by Gordy - February 16 2015 at 02:19

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Gordy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Folk/Eclectic/PSIKE/Metal Teams Joined: January 25 2007 Location: US Status: Online Points: 3369	Topic: ION for Experimental/Post-Metal Posted: February 16 2015 at 02:19
	Hailing from the grim and frostbitten land of San Francisco, ION are a relatively new black metal ensemble that released their self-titled debut in 2014. According to Aquarius Records, "We must admit, we don't know too much about these mysterious local post-metallers. Here's what we do know: They're from San Francisco (we think?), this is their debut full length (maybe??), and they're called Ion (we're actually pretty sure about that one). Oh, and they play totally killer, frenzied, chaotic, hyperblasting post black metal. Ion are all about contrasts: Beautifully melancholic melodic riffs suddenly dissipate into a whirling disarray of dissonance. Frantic blast beats give way to wide open minimal spaciousness before becoming enveloped again in an avalanche of buzzing guitars and pummeling drums. The vocals alternate between anguished rasps and bellowed death metal growls. During their downtime, the songs may descend into disembodied shortwave ambience. Hushed acoustic guitars haunt the landscape. A full five minutes may go by spent on reverb soaked drifting sonic post-rock bliss, before the music erupts again into a wall-of-noise onslaught of rolling double bass and grinding guitars. The affect is certainly suffocating, overwhelming and emotionally draining, but also somehow sleek, postmodern and bleak, kind of bringing to mind Altar Of Plagues' last record that we loved so much around these parts. And although Ion are definitely melodic (even downright pretty) and certainly fit comfortably into the post-black metal spectrum, their music feels too technical and scatterbrained to stand right alongside bands like Alcest or Deafheaven (although there's no reason they won't appeal to fans of those bands). Instead their relentless approach, while still maintaining a constant ear for lush melody, recalls someone like Panopticon. Meanwhile the hints of Isis-style doom and prog-metal flirtation bring to mind bands like Vatnett Viskar or even a much less earthy Agalloch. It's one of our favorite things here at aQ when a local band we've never even heard of comes out of the blue with a release this good. We're thinking they won't be going unnoticed much longer!" ION http://iontheband.bandcamp.com/ Edited by Gordy - February 16 2015 at 02:19

aapatsos Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: November 11 2005 Location: Manchester, UK Status: Offline Points: 9226	Posted: February 21 2015 at 14:09
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