Amenra
Mass IIII

THE REVIEW

I cannot understand how a name of such magnitude has been overlooked or perhaps simply not considered by the most attentive proponents of sonic extremism and post-metal in general, given that not even a meager review is provided here for the four albums of their history. Well, I'll partially remedy this, as I'm about to pen a few words on their latest studio effort, aptly titled "Mass IIII."

To begin, I'll specify their geographical origin: they are Belgian, and for a while now, a nice array of very valid bands has developed in the vicinity, especially in France, regarding the music contained therein; that is, where Neurosis is present at every meal of the day.
With this new work, Amenra stands on high levels, demonstrating artistic maturity and a dedication to the material that is as hysterical as ever: you hear the Neurosis (in the structures, the runtime, the impact, the apocalyptic and symphonic grandeur, the psychedelia accentuated by exhausting repetitions that lead to rather destructive crescendos); you hear the Isis (in the slow but consistently unique rhythms, in the tonal interplay between instruments, in that apparent simplicity, in those plunging evolutions towards the ground); but you also hear the Converge (in that voice... my goodness, that voice... always hysterical, and on the verge of an epileptic seizure, perhaps the last of a life lived among abuses and disappointments: the fierce scream of a man who can no longer speak, shouting to the world the wrongs he has suffered and the suffering it offers more than anything else).

The compositions are beautiful: always long, intricate, played on tortuous emotional crescendos and sudden voids where rarefaction reaches truly enviable peaks of despair, and everything coalesces into an ensemble that cannot be dissected by any temptation to explain one part to the detriment of another; everything is on the same level, and there is no perceived decline. On the contrary, the exponential growth of tension is one of their most important strengths. A sonic continuum that culminates in the peaks reached in tracks such as "de dodenakker" and "aorte," where the tension becomes palpable and the air around turns black as pitch, sad, solitary melodies advancing to explode in unprecedented expressive power.
Let it be clear, Amenra does not invent anything new, and the period that led to being amazed and surprised by this genre is now distant, but one cannot ignore such dedication and skill in fully rendering the desolation that all of humanity faces. One cannot ignore the great personality these guys put into their work; one cannot ignore, and for once, let's forget about originality and focus only on the quality, which here is truly high—in every riff, in every part, in every scream. And here I close, hoping that this is just the beginning of an upward career.