Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 21/09/2018
Label: Thrill Jockey Records
With “Love In Shadow” Sumac take further giant
steps into the heavy unknown with glorious results. No-one else comes close to
achieving the balance of razor-sharp precision and intoxicating chaos on
display here which edges the band closer to being the finest project in these
incredible musicians’ illustrious careers.
“Love In Shadow” CD//DD//2LP track
listing:
1). The Task
2). Attis’
Blade
3). Arcing
Silver
4). Ecstasy
of Unbecoming
The Review:
The dust has
barely settled from the sensory overload of Sumac’s intense improv blow-out
with Keiji Haino earlier in 2018. Now the fearsome trio are back with their
third proper full-length “Love In Shadow”.
This is a
dense and initially daunting record. Comprised of four mind-boggling complex tracks,
ranging from the relatively brisk twelve minutes of “Arcing Silver” to the massive opening statement of “The Task” which slowly unfurls over
twenty-two hypnotic minutes, “Love In Shadow” is not an easy ride but hugely
rewarding. Every listen reveals new details of these mammoth compositions and
it is easy to imagine more coming to light countless spins down the line.
“The Task” immediately finds Sumac
in full flow, negotiating a tumbling noise rock landscape, crushingly heavy
with a coarse serrated edge. The track evolves reverse to expectations,
beginning with a clanging cacophony then slowly getting quieter and quieter
until it reaches its conclusion. This makes for an intriguing journey and finds
the band breaking exciting new sonic ground. As the volume and complexity
dwindles, the music becomes more captivating as it moves into a sparse one note
dirge, led first by Aaron Turner’s crackling guitar then by Brian Cook’s
seismic bass. This acts as a backdrop for Turner to take an extended,
improvised clean solo that has a disorientating jazz feel reminiscent of the
weirder moments of their collaboration with Haino. This is the first instance
of Sumac
allowing their growing power as an improvisational force come to the fore on
“Love In Shadow” to great effect. Just when you think “The Task” has nothing left to give, it moves into a haunting end
section comprised of just keyboards and Turner’s lone wounded bark. It is the
most affecting moment on the record and brings to mind Harvey Milk at their bleakest.
“Attis’ Blade” kicks off in classic Sumac
fashion with Turner clanging out a driving one chord attack that sets the tone
for a pummelling rhythm section accompaniment. The band’s focused onslaught is
interrupted by a shift into a passage of electrifying free-form molten
improvisation. Throughout all of their albums to date, the superhumanly tight
musicianship of Sumac
as they navigate labyrinthine riff constructions has been almost terrifying to
behold. This is still evident throughout “Love In Shadow” but it is the uncanny
almost telepathic connection between these three players as they destroy
conventional forms that yields the records highlights. Nick Yacyshyn somehow
manages to lay down rhythms that work as a solid foundation for Aaron Turner’s
wild unhinged guitar outbursts while simultaneously shifting and lurching to
their own unpredictable tempo. Brian Cook operates in the middle ground between
these two mighty forces, relishing the freedom to lay down a thick layer of
restless low-end carnage. The track shifts back into a menacing noise rock
grind as it winds its way to its conclusion, all the more effective in contrast
to the roiling din from which it was born.
Cook’s
relentless one note riff jerks “Arcing
Silver” into life, an uneasy, menacing groove that somehow manages to keep
building up tension throughout the majority of its duration. When it finally
breaks into furious blastbeats and feral roars at its climax, the effect is
exhilarating. This demonstrates Sumac’s ability to judge when it is best to
take a direct, bludgeoning path rather than opt for the more torturous route.
Another example of this is in “Ecstasy of
Unbecoming” when Turner’s searing solo fretboard meltdown is mowed down by
the band ripping into their approximation of driving dumb punk rock.
