By:
Phil Weller
Album
Type: Full
Length
Date
Released: 09/09/2016
Label:
Independent
Throughout, nothing ever quite sits right, like a jigsaw with a few
missing pieces: The spasmodic guitar work of ‘Dark Matter God’ is a fitting
example of this. Yet they find, upon that uncomfortable platform, a way to
drill into your psyche excellently. It may be weird, but it has an uncanny way
of selling itself to you.
YIN”
DD track listing:
1).
The Dodged Now
2).
Born Into A Sadness Machine
3).
YIN
4).
Dark Matter God
5).
Dinosaurs
6).
Mange
7).
Carbon
8).
Left Skull Prison
9).
Collapse Of A Lifelong Lie
10).
You, The Siren And The Endless Void
11).
Mountain Of Snakes
12).
White Ship
The
Review:
Paradoxically,
Ayahuasca, through the channelling of dark and beguiled
grunge dirges and the booming sonic intensity of doom, conjure a sound that is
as depressing as it is uplifting. Major tones, specifically through a vocal
intonation reminiscent of the late Layne Stayley, are
haunted with dread and despair, minor tones meanwhile peppered with hope. On ‘YIN’ they have birthed the bastard
child of two emotions to one that isn’t explicitly either, but its circus freak
upbringing – its replication of some many familiar sounds pieced together in an
unfamiliar way – is what makes it such an engrossing listen.
Named
after an entheogenic brew used in a religious, shamanic, or even spiritual
context, such a choice of moniker is telling of the Canadian band’s mindset. So
it is no surprise that acid trip atmospherics – whirling sound effects and
disjointed, prickling textures – float through the record like a chilling
breeze, the slow, deadly thump of ‘The
Dodged Now’ introducing the band to great avail. Berserk Lout's huge, Layne Stayley like falsetto instantly makes its mark upon a
song that, musically, does little else. But where they are minimalist there,
the fast paced attack of ‘Born Into A Sadness
Machine’, which evokes on-form Screaming Trees in
parts, and the ghastly title-track, which fluctuates between a jarring riff and
crippled grooves, go on to reveal a band that keeps you guessing.
Here,
along with the monstrous stomp of ‘Dinosaurs’
they are at their most straight forward. Still feisty and gritty, but in their
Sunday Best. The best/worst (their true self) is yet to come.
And
that’s the thing. At a glance, it would be so easy to cast this as a dirty,
denim clad throwback to an era where grunge, and the working class underdogs that
created it, was king. The chorus of ‘Dinosaurs’,
for instance, would sound right at home on ‘Dirt’. But, while indeed it masterfully reminds the listener of so
many of the world beating aesthetics that those bands crafted as their own all
them years ago – hints Pearl Jam and Soundgarden sneaking through the cracks of the bombastic ‘Mange’ – there is something unique
nestling within their dingy product.
"There's
no time, in her eyes, look inside," yelps Lout in a Mike Patton
fashioned way on 'You, The Siren And The
Endless Void'. He does so atop the usual throbbing drone of guitars and
drums, but with the inclusion of a mandolin – sounding so out-of-place yet
brilliantly eccentric for it – here is yet another twist in this record's tale.
And one, it must be said, that keeps your attention firmly focussed on what’s
around the next crooked corner.
Throughout,
nothing ever quite sits right, like a jigsaw with a few missing pieces: The
spasmodic guitar work of ‘Dark Matter
God’ is a fitting example of this. Yet they find, upon that uncomfortable
platform, a way to drill into your psyche excellently. It may be weird, but it
has an uncanny way of selling itself to you.
‘Left Skull Prison’, perhaps where the
Layne Stayley comparisons become most obviously beside grinding guitars and an
almost spiritual countenance, and the “Blood
Mountain” era Mastadon dynamic attack
of ‘Mountain of Snakes’, could so
easily be two bands. They’d be stark contrasts of each other were it not for
that chilling breeze, and that paradoxical depressing/uplifting effect it has
upon you. By doing so, they have sewn together a diverse and engaging album
that is so much more than ‘grunge revived’
‘YIN’ is available here
