Materic
Меж Каменных Плит

Summer album reviews part three: the album you can listen to all year round (also because summer is over)

I honestly don't remember where I downloaded this album from, but I am grateful for my stroke of luck. Grateful because I like the album, and because I wouldn't have had a second chance. Now, we all know that if you don't start listening to screamo by your thirties, there's probably nothing more you can do. Well, if someone asked me, if tomorrow my father took a hit to the head and asked me for an album, let's say, here, I would respond with this album that I don't even know the name of. Why? Simple, it's the quintessence of the genre and covers all the best possible contaminations.

Just listen to the opening track, an instrumental that starts with feedback and gradually builds a sharp riff, a clanging bass like a train comes in, cymbals sprout in a dynamic game, a melodic variation here and there recurrent, somber finale. Standard whistle, second piece, fast but enough to allow a defined vocal line, which doesn't fall into the error of being too dramatic, and down to a long instrumental finale among post rock, emo, and noise. They might also seem like the usual things, said and thrown out there like that, yet, as sometimes happens, the band has the ability to bring out the best from the ingredients they choose. The guitar tracks have a great synergy both when launching into raids and when working with effects, and above all, the guitarist has the lovely habit of occasionally slipping a pinch of noise into the cauldron, which for music like this is a cure-all; not too much, though, it never becomes annoying and never makes the rest incomprehensible, rather I would say that dissonance is considered as a possibility equal to harmony. When listening to a screamo album, it's often the case to complain about confusing and chaotic songwriting, which makes it much more difficult to enjoy compared to, say, metal in general. Here instead everything is perfectly calibrated, but not in a fancy and sly way, in fact, they dare quite a bit for a genre that has spruced up a bit lately, at least compared to the past: for instance in Золой, where in the last chorus the guitar refuses to accompany the piece and gets lost in rolling noise, and pretty high in the mix too. The result is much superior to what one might imagine from this description. And moreover, for once, this is a well-produced album. Everything is in its place, everything sounds as it should, like a utopian live performance to say. The clean parts are bright and clear, the bass throbs well, etc., and it doesn't sound plasticky but appropriate. It reminds me of the production of Wildlife by La Dispute. Sure, when the guitars explode into distorted chords, your earphones or whatever will saturate quite a bit.

A bit more about the band. The drummer's work is excellent, creative, unlike the genre's standard: even just listening to the drums here is entertaining. It pairs well with the bass, roaring and powerful. The two voices are excellent, one shrill and defenseless and a flexible and versatile scream. And then the guitar, I'm in love with this guitar, creative, scornful, and torrential, a penchant for treacherous bending, a vocation for stoner/doom tossed to the most homosexual subgenre of punk. In short, this album is a masterpiece, I recommend it to anyone who is not unfamiliar with distortion and even to the bravest ones who want an adventure.