Album
Type:
Album
Date
Released:
02nd
February 2015
Label:
Prismatik
Records / Big Riff Records
Collapse – Track Listing
1.Awake/Crisis
2.Divergence
3.Weakling
4.Loom (i.Drowse
ii.Barren)
Bio
EARTHMASS is a four
piece band from Essex, South-East England.
Members
Chris Houghton -
Guitar & Vocals
Chris Saunders -
Guitar
Rob Saunders - Bass
Jack Burley - Drums
& Vocals
Review:
One
look at the cosmic panorama gracing the cover of Earthmass’ latest
release gives a good indication of what awaits within. “Collapse”
is a journey into the void comprising four slabs of galactic
psychedelic rock, boasting levels of low-end likely to induce a
strong gravitational pull.
I’ve
witnessed this Essex quartet in the live arena a couple of times over
the past 12 months and have been highly impressed. Their style of
lengthy songs comprising periods of atmospheric calm interspersed
with crunching distortion and sparingly-used vocals could easily be
labelled as post-metal, but lumping them together with the many
Isis/Neurosis sound-alikes does them a disservice. The way Earthmass
execute their songs lends them an individuality that sets them apart
sonically from their peers. Favouring a more minimal and restrained
approach to riffs and melodic sections lends the band an understated
power which can be much more affecting than the effects-pedal
overload of others.
The
previous self-titled recording by the band did a good job of
conveying their considerable songwriting talent but didn’t quite
capture the serious weight of their live sound. This has been
rectified in style this time around by enlisting the supreme knob
twiddling talents of Slabdragger’s Sam Thredder. You only have to
wait a few second into opener “Awake/Crisis” for evidence of this
as a thunderous riff and urgent vocals engulf the brief clean intro.
Coming across like a meaner, uglier cousin of Mogwai’s “We’re
No Here” equipped with iron balls, this sets the scene for trio of
riff-heavy tracks that take Earthmass into more aggressive and
metallic territory. The relatively brief four-minute “Divergence”
kicks off with a lumbering dirty riff and vocals reminiscent of “Red”
era Baroness before heading into the more traditional doom-feeling
“Weakling”. Although they work a treat as individual tracks, this
opening trio almost feels like a suite split into three movements,
such is the effortless flow between them.
I’m
a sucker for pretentious prog-style elaborate song titling. Any kind
of splitting tracks into multiple parts or individually titled
movements gets a big thumbs up from me. Earthmass embrace this style
here with the sprawling, 18-minute finale “Loom” which is split
into two sections: i. “Drowse” and ii. “Barren”. “Drowse”
initially takes “Collapse” into a quieter, spacier place than
that explored in the previous three riff-heavy tracks. Beginning with
a hypnotic jam section that brings to mind Tool playing Om’s “At
Giza”, the band then switch to crunching heaviness and back again.
An eerie, clean guitar motif is introduced that recalls the menacing
intimacy of Slint which is soon enveloped in distortion and twisted
through different forms and variations. Apologies to the band if I’ve
called this wrong, but this wall of sound is then reduced to quiet to
usher in “Barren” with a groovier more frenetic variation on the
mesmeric jam that began “Drowse”. This leads to one final
punishing one-chord staccato attack that brings the track and the
record to a suitably powerful conclusion.
Another
excellent release from Earthmass then that continues to develop their
vast sonic prowess and deserves to make them a big name in the UK
metal scene. I will be purchasing a copy of this on vinyl, you can’t
say better than that when it comes to a recommendation.
Words
by Charlie Butler
Collapse
will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from February 02nd
2015.
For
more information
