Epistasis (U.S.) for Experimental Metal |
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Svetonio
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 20 2010 Location: Serbia Status: Offline Points: 10213 |
Topic: Epistasis (U.S.) for Experimental Metal Posted: July 10 2014 at 01:52 |
"One of the finest new bands we've stumbled across here at Crucial Blast,
New York based outfit Epistasis first appeared in 2012 with a
self-titled album on The Path Less Traveled Records. Those early
recordings revealed an interesting confluence of sounds, their often
difficult, jagged arrangements traced with elements of prog rock and
noise rock, black metal and avant jazz, and even the influence of modern
classical composers such as Béla Bartók, Arvo Pärt and György Ligeti.
Even then in embryonic form, Epistasis were hinting at the sort of
abrasive, atmospheric metal that we're continually obsessed with over
here at C-Blast, but it is with their second release (and first for
Crucial Blast) "Light Through Dead Glass" that the band has re-emerged
with a much more focused and fleshed-out sound. Now a quartet comprised
of Amy Mills on vocals and trumpet (who has also contributed trumpet
parts on new albums from Castevet and Psalm Zero), Alex Cohen (drums),
Kevin Wunderlich (guitar) and Doug Berns (bass), Epistasis delivers a
dark new vision of atmospheric dissonance and surrealistic heaviness
with this six-song mini album recorded by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth,
Swans, Unsane).
With this new collection of songs, the band has evolved into something much darker, the music shifting from passages of moody, understated atonal melody into blasts of frostbitten discordant blackness and lurching, angular riffage. Beginning with the crushing, doom-laden dread that opens "Time's Vomiting Mouth", its yawning blackened heaviness glazed in a glistening electronic sheen, the band quickly erupt into paroxysms of jagged black metal-esque violence. Amy Mills's ghastly scream drifts vaporously behind those twisted, lurching grooves and blackened blasts, often trading off with the gorgeously ghostly sound of her trumpet bleating in the darkness, strains of spectral jazziness echoing through the depths beneath the band's complex, metallic assault. These subtle jazz-informed touches are met with the furious drumming of Alex Cohen, also a member of avant death metallers Pyrrhon and NY death metal titans Malignancy; his aggressive performance on "Light..." give these songs a churning rhythmic intricacy that even seethes beneath the band's more atmospheric moments. And "Light..." has plenty, from the eerie guitar strings that lilt across the opening minutes of "Finisterre", gradually disassembling into a haze of fractured folkiness before blasting into another swirl of savage blackened discordant metal, later giving way to mournful guitar melodies that cascade across the latter half of the song in limpid sheets of elliptical beauty; to the haunting ambience of "Grey Ceiling", all layered in those bleary horn tones and smeared jazzy drift. The more black metal influenced aspects of Epistasis's sound seem to be informed by the likes of Ved Buens Ende and Virus with a similar tendency towards difficult, off-kilter riffing and odd melodic shapes, and when the guttural chaos of "Witch" appears, there is almost a hint of some of the murkier, more abstract realms of death metal, but this is only barely glimpsed before the band hurtles into the further reaches of psychotic vocal delirium, blasts of controlled chaos and deformed out-jazz horror that make up much of this disc. Much like label-mates Ehnahre, Epistasis craft an unconventional, complex sound on "Light Through Dead Glass" that suggests just as much kinship with the darker and more malevolent realms of prog rock (Univers Zero, Present, "Red"-era King Crimson) as it does with the more outré fringes of black metal, delivering a kind of nightmarish dissonance shot through with scenes of shocking surrealistic violence and flashes of phantasmal beauty. The CD version comes in digipack packaging. "For a month as terrible as February (and, here in NYC, where filthy ice caked everything for about 3/4 of the month, it was terrible), it’s been a pretty killer time for fans of various brands of atmospheric/post-black metal. Woods of Desolation and Nasheim’s albums were released, Fluisteraars came out of nowhere to leave jaws hanging, and now Epistasis has sprung up right here in IO HQ’S own NYC backyard. This last is the post-rockiest of the bunch — it’s also the only to feature a trumpet, and the band that might finally get those on the straight and narrow into this whole “experimental” thing. “Finisterre” is a great way to get to know Epistasis, who will be releasing their second EP, Light Through Dead Glass,
soon. The song’s as much about big rock riffs as it is weirdness and
fringe black metal, if that makes any sense at all. And skirting the
edges of comprehension seems to be Epistasis’ thing. Trumpet and picked
guitar dirges are interspersed and overlaid with bonkers solos and
violent, frigid blasting that’s kicked into high gear by
vocalist/trumpeter Amy Mills, who provides some of the sickest shrieks
of 2014 thus far (and who played trumpet on the recent Castevet and
Psalm Zero albums). Epistasis features members of NYC locals Couch Slut
and Pyrrhon (the drummer, not IO editor and professional yeller Doug),
too — they take a page from what Pyrrhon’s all about with a wonkiness
factor will both lull you and thrash you. There’s never a dull moment,
but a particular highlight has got to be the crescendo that kicks off
around 4:00, with the trumpet-as-Siren being a defining factor. If we
can play etymologist here, perhaps the trumpet’s the calm before the
world-ending storm. It’s a thing of beauty — maybe more metal bands
should try out trumpet. (Actually, don’t. Can’t have that on my
conscious.)"
released 01 April 2014 on Crucial Blast "But really, on the whole, “Finisterre” punches, kicks and screams with remarkable agility and style. It’s catchy while weirding the hell out, decidedly pretty while venturing into atonal territory. Add Light Through Dead Glass to the calendar—it’ out on Crucial Blast on April 1s" - Wyatt Marshall http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2014/02/premiere-epistasis/ Edited by Svetonio - July 10 2014 at 02:39 |
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aapatsos
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: November 11 2005 Location: Manchester, UK Status: Offline Points: 9226 |
Posted: July 10 2014 at 15:40 |
on charts
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Rune2000
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 23 2004 Location: STHLM, Sweden Status: Offline Points: 1833 |
Posted: January 21 2015 at 12:06 |
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Svetonio
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 20 2010 Location: Serbia Status: Offline Points: 10213 |
Posted: January 21 2015 at 12:09 |
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