Sunday, February 6, 2011

Year of No Light - Ausserwelt (2010, Conspiracy Records)

In case you haven't noticed, France is a current hotbed for innovative Post-Metal endeavors and Year of No Light is one of the most interesting projects happening there. This sextet from Bordeaux consists of three guitarists, two drummers and a bassist with keyboard skills to boot. The loss of their vocalist forced them to experiment even further and they decided to pursue things instrumentally. Luckily, the intricate communication between the three guitars leaves no vocals to be desired.

I find it convenient that they admit to worshiping a "holy trinity of Black Sabbath, Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine", because it allows me to omit those obvious comparisons in my description.

The four tracks presented here are brilliantly cohesive; a seamless flow of peaceful melancholy, dirty over-driven chords, sludgy riffs with competing melodic Doom. There are even occasional forays into evil Black Metal tremelo and a bit of blastbeat drumming, all drowning in layers of noisy ambient drone.

Especially intriguing to me is the successful use of dual drummers. The effect is similar to some of the Godspeed You! Black Emperor material.

I hate the term Metalgaze but...

Get It Here

Or: Year Of No Light 'Ausserwelt' - Year of No Light

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