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| Sculpture by David Altmejd. |
I totally fell in love with Locrian back in 2012 when I first came in contact with this highly creative trio. They blew me away and opened up a new chapter of music to me. Even though the double album The Clearing/The Final Epoch was harsh and not so listener-friendly I just embraced it wholeheartedly. It was a trip to a haunting claustrophobic post-apocalyptic environment which I gladly revisits on a regular basis.
I have to mention that, to this day, I have not gotten into their album Return To Annihilation from 2013. After some listen-throughs I just came to terms with the fact that we weren’t compatible.
So here I am with a new Locrian album which is much lighter and much more accessible on a grander scale, the haunting drone and eerie bleak atmospheres from The Clearing/The Final Epoch is for the most part gone, and has transformed into a more focused experimental atmospheric post-black-metal with the dark electronics hovering around the tracks, and I love it!
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| Terence Hannum. Photo by Webzine Chuul. |
"Arc of Extinction" opens up with all the ingredients that makes Locrian great: droning guitars, the tormented distant screams from Terence Hannum, the ritualistic heavy drumbeats from Steven Hess that drags you closer while the track builds up into a cataclysmic fury, a tornado of intertwined sounds that breathes like a living entity! 7 minutes of mesmerizing waves of sound and André Foisy’s fine-tuned guitar that just lifts this track above and beyond.
Just like "Dark Shales" has it’s light and fluid meditative mood that feels spacy and futuristic, "The Great Dying" will also lift your mind to another state of consciousness. It blooms out to something that gives me goosebumps, and is maybe my favourite track on this album. It floats seamlessly over into “Heavy Water” that streams thick and fluidly underneath you as you hover over it.
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| Steven Hess. Photo by Webzine Chuul. |
"An Index of Air" makes me want to see them live, this track would be something out of this world to be able to experience live, where the initial lengthy drum and electronic intro will take your senses to another dimension. And as the track opens up and Terrence starts to scream out the few but powerful lyrics; the sound waves, the dim light and the presence of other people in a crowded room would trigger even more ways to enjoy the music.
This album feels more harmonic and balanced but you will still find darker passages with harsh noisy electronics. The track "KXL I" carries this darker and more harsher mechanical droning sound and mood. It has a light guitar on top of a darker undercurrent of screeching electronics. A gritty guitar eventually seeps out of that dark undercurrent and gives this track some really interesting layers.
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| André Foisy. Photo by Webzine Chuul. |
After my first listen-through I noticed that the aura was brighter and more ethereal. Every sound they create in their sonic adventures is carefully placed and structured which results in an awe inspiring synergy, and that is why I never get tired of listening to their music.
With Infinite Dissolution Locrian paints pretty pictures of post-apocalyptic landscapes. So let them escort you, as your mind wander, to an Earth where humans no longer exists. Cease to Grow, Start to Dissolve ("Heavy Water").
And I might have to mention that Locrian’s Infinite Dissolution is number one on my best of 2015 list.
