Wednesday, August 11, 2010

You looked like a religious man

Yeah, "electronic side-project from a metal musician" is a tough sell - with no thanks to Dauði Baldrs or whatever the fuck it is that Mortiis does - but thankfully, what Inachus sets out to accomplish isn't just a sloppy attempt at "dark atmosphere" but instead is a group of songs and sketches of ideas from Oceanus's bassist, Rob Honey.

Really, there's nothing "metal" about Inachus, despite the fact that, apparently, some of these ideas could potentially be worked into Oceanus material. Rather, it's all in the downtempo/ambient vein, and respectfully ambient at that, with the 7 tracks clocking in at a breezy 22 minutes instead of relying on their sheer undeniable girth to become "atmospheric" because, really, what doesn't create an atmosphere when you're subjected to it for 12 minutes at a time? But I digress. Ahem.

The EP is incredibly coherent despite the album info making it sound like a bit of an odds & ends affair, with dreamy reversed synth work fluttering about and tying together tracks along with the smart use of samples giving the work a distinct feel. The album works best when this all comes together, like in the gorgeous opener "I Stared Into the Sun" or when "Memento Mori" finally brings all its elements together. The rest of the pieces are shorter and, appropriately, contain smaller ideas, but all work together fantastically. Hell, I think "flow" is the word of the day here, because this is really smooth as hell and I feel like I should stop there before it sounds like I'm talking about more about a crisp Stella on draught, but it really is sublime how the last three songs work together, and not unlike that Belgian slice of golden heaven, you barely realize each one passing until it's too late and you're half in the bag the album's over. The pulsing, distant piano of "As The River Grew" sneaks up and blossoms right before your eyes in "Three" before folding back and snaking away in [the oh so aptly named] "A Logical Conclusion".




And, as always, if you dig it, buy yourself a copy. Limited CDr with bonus tracks. You know you love that kinda stuff.

www.myspace.com/inachusuk

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mortiis is such a washed-up hack though, so who gives a shit what he does? XD