Year Of No Light - "Ausserwelt" CD

From France comes this formidable and majestic post-metal juggernaut which calls to mind the potent tribal nihilism of bands like Isis or Neurosis (sans caveman grunting, thankfully), all the while maintaining a crystalline drone/shoegaze guitar backdrop that could please fans of Mono or Explosions In The Sky. "Ausserwelt" opens with 20 minutes of "Persephone" (in 2 parts), and these crushing instrumentals aptly exhibit the massive, earth-crushing momentum of what must be one of France's most potent bands.

This album only contains 4 tracks, but make no mistake -- it's 48 minutes of carefully-crafted, intense psychedelic-metal that's so stunningly tectonic that YONL must aim to summon primordial beasts from beyond with every reverberating drum laceration and swirling guitar whirlpool. When it all winds down, on the 13-minute "Abbesse", a fleet of ambient sounds gently lulls the beast back to the abyss. An amazing, powerful, and standout release here. I am duly impressed. (Conspiracy Records)

Year Of No Light site

Year Of No Lightspace

Pelican - "What We All Come To Need" CD

Chicago's progressive/metal act migrates to Southern Lord for their 4th album, and this one follows much in the path of their past work -- lengthy, intricately-developed instrumental rock that takes aspects of heavy indie, doom metal, drone, and even math rock and adds a monumental heaviness that will endear them to fans of kindred spirits like Tool, Isis, Jesu, Mono, or Sunn O))). "The Creeper" features some guest guitars from Greg Anderson, himself of Sunn O))), but the music is purely Pelican. The twin guitar attack of Laurent Schroeder-Lebec and Trevor de Brauw interweaves delicate melodies below seas of monolithic riff. Pelican's heavy (and heady) music leaves behind any semblance of ego or pretense, as these players create songs that sometimes sweep and float, at at other times twist into a tumultuous firestorm of angst and thunderous momentum. Tracks like "Strung Up From The Sky" epitomize everything that Pelican stands for -- strong, muscular, and tight riffing, softer passages, a monstrous rhythm section, and melodies wafting around the gargantuan (song) structure. Nothing here is tired, rote, overplayed, or showy. Superb work, and perhaps Pelican's finest thus far. (Southern Lord)

Pelicanspace

Pelican page

¡M.G.R. y Destructo Swarmbots! - "Amigos de lo Guitarra" CD

When Swarmbots' Mike Mare and Isis/MGR's Mike Gallagher get together, the long, drawn-out guitarscapes that result echo with a sparse, dusty Morricone-meets-post-rock vibe. The single 42-minute instrumental piece here, "Amor en el Aire", approaches a kind of dark, reflective soundtrack, and it chimes and glides with a subtle, slow-burn intensity. The droning, wandering psychedelia begins gently, then rises up as Mare and Gallagher's layered guitars capture a way-out atmosphere of wide-open expanses. It's like the quiet parts of a Mono song that never quite takes off on it's trajectory to the stratosphere. The music fades out gradually, like a ghostly tumbleweed rolling out of town. "Amigos.." is a fine mood piece, perfect for fans of the Neurosis/Isis axis, but perhaps a bit lacking for repeat listens. (Neurot Recordings)

Destructo Swarmbotspace

Isis site