By: Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length
Album Type: Full Length
“Migration” CD//CS//DD//LP track listing:
1). White Stork
2). Menhir (feat. Johannes Persson)
3). Iter
4). HTV-3 (feat. Josh Mckeown)
5). Kibo
6). Lira
7). Unberth
The Review:
Bossk hail from Ashford, Kent and are seemingly named after a Star Wars character? I have heard the band name, but not their music. I've been to Ashford once and didn't great vibe from the place, so on that basis it seems perfectly plausible that a great band could come from there. Well, Bossk are that band.
I suppose I could describe this as post-metal- but with some sludge elements, some ambience and a pretty abstract approach to the songs in general. Opener “White Stork” has a lot more in common with Massive Attack than it does with Metallica, that is for certain- so forget endless riffs and catchy hooks or other stylistic metal tropes. “Menhir” brings the metallic sounds and riffs with some twists and turns into groove and atmospheric territory to boot- but this is not recognisable as metal, per se.
On that basis, the first two tracks give an interesting idea as to how the album may proceed. It covers a lot of ground and for reference points, I must reference the only bands who I have really heard who are in roughly the same part of the Venn Diagram; Neurosis, Cult of Luna... The Ocean, perhaps? I'm out of my depth here, having spent the last few days listening to Blind Guardian (and not enjoying it much, I have to add)- but this unpredictable and challenging listen is just what I needed.
There are more ambient sounds scattered through the record (“Kibo”, for instance), more mountainous heaviness (“HTV-3”) and in the final two tracks, “Unberth” and “Lira” there are more expansive track lengths to allow the band to flex all aspects of their sound. They each sound like they could soundtrack a film set in a dystopian future.
As is always the case with albums of this breadth, I suspect he hidden depths will only be revealed by repeated listens. This is not an accessible metal record – or even an accessible post metal one. It combines the esoteric nature of a band like Om with the expanses that the aforementioned bands excel at. It is engaging, ambitious and unpredictable – even confounding – and I would recommend fans of any of the aforementioned reference point bands to give it a try.
“Migration” is available HERE
