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Locrian, "Rain of Ashes"
Released a few months prior on cassette (continuing the underground’s fetishization of that unreliable magnetic media format), this live recording appears on the wider CD format, remastered to take better advantage of the digital media, and continues this new but prolific band’s trek into dense, heavy drone that somehow manages to keep lighter, airy ambient moments appearing in the otherwise gray mist.
Essentially a single, hour long track split into two parts (mimicking the cassette’s original A and B sides), Rain of Ashes brings in even more elements to the duo’s normally guitar/electronic sourced metal tinged drone/doom. The introduction’s shimmering guitar feedback over a simple electronic bed is not far removed from the band’s earlier works, but the building complexity of guitar tone is extremely dynamic, alternating between melodic post-punk tones and shrill piercing feedback, all the while the frozen wall of electronic textures stay in place. Eventually the noise shifts away to allow the subtle low end electronic sounds to move forward.
The most drastic change happens when the darker ambient electronics pull away and is replaced by a simple 8 bit digital melody and rapid guitar plucking that, at first, sounds gentle and nostalgic (but perhaps that’s just my childhood memories of playing Nintendo speaking). This turns from nostalgic to sinister as soon as the digital ambience comes back, thrusting the lo-fi melody into some creepy rendition of John Carpenter’s Halloween theme. This returns again towards the end of the entire piece, but first is quickly cut up by chugging metal drone guitar before falling apart into pure red-lined harsh noise.
Now, it is somewhat of a cop-out when the second half starts, as it is simply the first 30 minutes again, just now in reverse. The nature of the sound, however, belies this fact. Without careful study, it does just seem like structurally the track mirrors itself, but the individual tones and textures take on a different quality once played backwards. The reversed guitar tones from the introduction (now at the conclusion) change the most distinctly, now resembling the best moments of The Cure playing doom metal.
Rain of Ashes once again demonstrates Locrian’s combination of metal drone and noise, but continues the infusion of more meditative ambience and a subtle hint of post-punk rock that isn’t usually referenced in the heavier stuff. Personally I’d like to hear it become an even more dominant part of their sound, and their always evolving sound leads me to believe there could be a drone metal Echo and the Bunnymen cover someday. Maybe.
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