Unearthly Trance

V

Written by: EW on 28/10/2010 10:15:45

Unearthly Trance have never been an easy listen even by doom standards as experiences with 2006's "The Trident" have taught me but given the generally high standards of what I've heard from the band over time new album "V" was a tempting proposition. Subscribing to the old 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' adage UT's mixture is part ponderous droning doom (think YOB, or when at their very slowest, Abandon) and part sludgy noise (think Kongh, Minsk or Crowbar) with the delightful screams of guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lipynsky over the top and it's result is about as uplifting as discovering the woman you've been barebacking for the last 6 months is HIV positive.

If you wish to place music to such painful and unwelcoming thoughts the likes of "The Leveling" or "Physical Universe Distorts" should do nicely given how they fail to reach even first gear in their allotted time, yet describing "Unveiled", "Submerged Metropolis", "The Tesla Effect" or pretty much any other moment in the 59 of "V" as positive in comparison would be taking optimism a little too far. Beyond the mere crawling speed creating much of the gloom in which Unearthly Trance lie is their use of ambient atmospherics and noise-generating feedback which help move the band away from the classic doom template and into the realms of sludge and in the process, a more typical Relapse Records sound. It is harsh, it is abrasive and sure as hell it ain't pretty and I bet the band are delighted with such an assessment.

Naturally building up momentum at such a crawl is difficult, yet doable, as Abandon realised on their monumental "The Dead End" last year but like most in this league Unearthly Trance don't quite possess the je nous se qua to get away so comfortably with being outpaced by tectonic plates. Yet, though, "V" is emotional and wretched enough to hold it's own in the classes of doom and adds to the growing collective weight of Unearthly Trance's crushing discography.

7

Download: The Leveling, Adversaries Mask 1, Unveiled
For the fans of: Abandon, Crowbar, Minsk
Listen: Myspace

Release date 28.09.2010
Relapse Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.