ALBUM REVIEW: Telepathy - "Tempest"



By: Phil Weller

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 31/03/2017

Label: Golden Antenna

 

A monsoon of riffs, from slow, knuckle-dragging doom moments to the calculated chaos of Mastodon, spinning on a huge axis with their long, winding loops, this album it hits you like a drug, freewheeling into your body.

“Tempest” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). First Light

2). Smoke from Distant Fires

3. Celebration of Decay

4). Echo of Souls

5). Apparition

6). Hiraeth

7). Water Divides the Tide

8). Metanoia

The Review:

Telepathy’s sound has always been monstrous. With each release their raw, voracious and vicious sound has gained more and more clarity, their ideas more expansive and forward thinking. Now, with Jaime Gomez Arellano at the helm, they are a different beast entirely. The producer, who can boast Ghost, Opethand Paradise Lost as notches on his bedpost, is exactly what the band need at this point in time, and it will surely propel them to greater, more luxurious stratospheres.

‘Smoke From Distant Fires’ instantly bombards you with craggy, precipitous guitar work, cascading through the crystal clear mix with a menacing intent. But if those opening explosions come across like ‘Times of Grace’ era Neurosis, then they flaunt their lighter, airier and more celestial side in later passages. This band has always prided itself on their intelligently thought out and diligently executed musical contrasts. So often do their dark, miserable skylines develop overhead only for blinding rays of light to pierce through like faint hope and brighten the landscapes. Throughout the track the contrasts are in constant conflict, a tug of war for aural dominance throwing the song this way then that, and it makes the result nothing short of evocative and spellbinding.

‘Celebration of Decay’ marries dislocated, barbaric rhythms – something akin to post-metal having a seizure, but with perfect timing – huge, mountainous chords that lumber like giants and hypnotic diminuendos that drag you by the feet and pull you deeper into reverie. It is in these quiet, reflective moments that voice recordings of astronauts looking back down on Mother Earth can be heard. It’s apt for a band which has never quite sounded like they were of this planet. The song’s title too, in today’s climate, has an added poignancy to it.

‘Apparition’ flirts with black metal, with warmongering blast beats and the rapidly picked guitars reverberating like they were recorded in a vast, echoic cathedral. The sound is so huge it towers over you, belittles you. ‘Water Divides The Tide’ meanwhile, is more forthright. A monsoon of riffs, from slow, knuckle-dragging doom moments to the calculated chaos of Mastodon, spinning on a huge axis with their long, winding loops, it hits you like a drug, freewheeling into your body.

It is an album, for all intents and purposes, better experienced than anything. Be that in the flesh or sat in the dark with their immersive compositions blaring through your headphones, painting vibrant images in your imagination as they do, for the best effect I advise you stop reading this review. Just listen.

“Tempest” is available to preorder/buy here



Band info: bandcamp || facebook



ALBUM PREMIERE: Labirinto premiere their atmospherically dense and massively heavy instrumental opus “Gehenna” in Full

 

Within the vast territory of sounds that stretches between post rock and metal, LABIRINTOare one of South America's most well-known bands... and one of the very few outfits whose name and reputation has reached European and North American shores.

“Gehenna” is the band's heaviest and darkest release to date: a richly textured sound on an apocalyptic vision, driven by heavy guitars and synths, conceptualized and scored by guitar player Eric Cruxen, who along with his wife and founding member Muriel Curi forms the backbone of LABIRINTO.

“Gehenna” is already the band's 9th release, but only the sophomore album – their back catalogue is made up of a number of EPs and split EPs, a detail which showcases the band's strong foundation in the DIY scene. Throughout the 11 years of their existence, Cruxen and Curi have learned how to productively and successfully take control of every aspect of a band's universe themselves, without getting lost in it: from running their own professional recording studio, the internationally renowned Dissenso Studiosin São Paulo, to running their own record label, to booking their own tours and collaborating with likeminded artists, record labels and producers across the globe.

For “Gehenna”, they invited producer legend Billy Anderson, known for his works with MELVINS, NEUROSIS, FANTOMAS to Brazil. The result of Billy Anderson's 9 days in Brazil is an atmospherically dense and massively heavy instrumental record. The album features 10 tracks, and one of them, “Locrus”, is a collaborative effort with the Belgian guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove (AMENRA / SYNDROME).

“Gehenna” is set for release via the renowned Pelagic Records on 10/02/2017 and today you can stream the album in full.  You can order a copy of the 2xLP, CD, digital here

 

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp