This is the first in the Green Records Reviews showcase series. I will take a few release from an artist or label and do a writeup on them.
Locrian is one of the best groups on the scene as of late. My interaction with the group started in
late 2007/early 2008, through a mail trade. What I received were two beautiful cassettes, one being a Locrian tape, a split with an artist named Daleth. The tape is a totally amazing example of DIY done right. The group did the tape themselves, and it came in a really nice looking letterpressed o-card, and a nice looking tape with labels. Since I received this tape early on in running a label, this tape set a standard for me. In my mind, it was inspiration to not slack off and use doing it myself as an excuse to have a low quality product. The music on this tape is incredible as well. The song, titled "Visible/Invisible" is on the ligher side of the Locrian stuff i've heard thusfar, an ambient foggy piece. Guitar is used sparingly, but maintains it's presence.
After I received that tape. I hadn't heard anything from the band for a while (though they definatley DID release more material - inluding 7" and a CD on Bloodlust!, and many other tapes, CDs, and vinyl on other labels), until I received 2 tapes last summer (both from different labels, and they showed up on the same day - WEIRD).
The first tape i'll talk about is a self-released split cassette the band did with a group called Continent. The artwork is another beautiful DIY producrion. Interesting, glossy double-sided j-card, with a clear yellow taped, with a hand-stamped label. Why can't every DIY release be like
this? It's so simple, yet so underutilized.
The Locrian side a piece called "Burying the Carnival", which appears to have been recorded live during a radio session, starts out with a low bassy synth tone, and a piercing tone comes out suddenly. Almost immediatly after come the delayed horns. Quite a mix, and it works well. The horns because more and more persistant, and soon, the piercing synth is what leads the track. The piece continues, almost droning, but not boring whatsoever. Eventually, the tones and horn start to break off, leaving a some light, continuous bass and manic guitar. It ends with the low, bassy tone. Surely an interesting listen, and really great for a live session. The overall use of different highs and lows works very well, and i find impressive the use of so many different sounds/instruments in one live session (and it not sounding bad!).The Contient side, WOAH. This is NOTHING like the Locrian side. This is TOTAL GRINDCORE! How this split works, I have no fucking idea. It does though. The music definatley isn't bad, the dudes definatley know how to play their instruments. Otherwise, there's not much I can say, because I really don't have much experience with this type of music, and I wouldn't feel right writing a full review on it. I do enjoy it though.
The next tape is another split, this time on the Heavy Nature Tapes label, and featuring Colossus on the B side. The art is decent, but not as good as the previous tape. Nice glossy j-card, and an imprinted tape (cool!), very minimal, but there's something missing, i'm not sure what. Almost TOO minimal.
The Locrian material on this particular track is from the same radio session as the cassette above. This piece, titled" Visible/Invisible", also appeared on the Locrian split with Daleth which was reviewed above. To go into more detail, this new version starts off with what sounds like a distant, muffled gong, though i'm pretty sure it's just good use of a guitar. Starting off slow and minimal, for sure. Clean guitar delay and misty synth poke their heads through every once in a while, until the synth is persistent. The track goes on slow, and the synth builds up. louder and more noticable. An incedibly foggy track, unchanged in that aspect from the early version. A great rendition, far better than the one previously reviewed. The Collossus side starts with a track titled "An Act of Light", very similar to the Locrian side. It starts mostly dominated by horns, in a continual pattern, until the piece turns to a somewhat ambient, clear drone. The horns do a dissapearing act, but turn up eventually. The song goes on in that fasion, until it ends. The second track, titled "Drink Deep", is in the same style, yet a little more glassy and tone oriented. Surreal almost. To add to the surrealness, some unknown voices are tossed in, making this track really like a dream. Birds start to twitter, and it's like i'm waking up. Surely the best track of the two.
The last piece of the Locrian puzzle I will talk about is their newest disc, a real silver-cd titled "Drenched Lands", released on Small Doses and At War With False Noise. Out of all of the Locrian titles i've ever seen, this is by far the best looking. The disc comes in a professional looking cardboard case with track titles and graphics. Inside is the CD with black-on black imagery, and a very great looking insert with strange wire maze images.
The music is also the best of any Locrian i've heard so far. Incredibly different than the 3 tapes i've heard thusfar. The first track, "Obsolete Elegy in Effluvia and Dross",was somewhat of a shocker to me. The whole thing is almost straight, creepy guitar. Towards the end, repeated
moaning occurs, and for the last 30 or so seconds, you hear a nice synth line. Where was it for
the rest of the track? Oh well. Overall a nice track (short, too - just over 2:00), but definatley not representative of the album itself. The next track, an 11 minute piece titled "Ghost Repeater", is somewhat more like the Locrian i'm used to hear. A pulsating tone accomponied bya fainting synth and light feedback and scratching delay. The song gets heavier and heavier. More synth and guitar action on track 3, "Barren Temple Obscured By Contaminated Fogs", but there's also some blood-curdling screams, which fit very well with the music. Up ahead is "Epicedium", is a little softer. Flowing sounds of sparse guitar and synth tones. Things get heavier, but still remain on the calmer side. song number 5, "Obsolete Elegy in Cast Concrete", is a 7 minute guitar blast for the most part. More screaming like on track 3, and I really like it. Different circumstances than the latter, but just a good. The last track, titled "Greyfield Shrines", also appears on a semi-recent 12" the group did. It also serves as a nice closing piece for this album, seemingly summing up the styles and themes of the previous tracks. It maintains a buzzing presence, moved with more delayed guitar (all around awesome delay use on this whole album). Like many of the tracks on this album, it's a good one to zone out to, just droning and pulsing, get heavier as it goes, slow moving though for sure. Pretty heavy hitting stuff towards the last 10 of the 30 minutes.
Overall, some of the best work Locrian has done from the things that i've heard (although I wouldn't doubt this is one of the best in their entire catalog). With its pulsing synthesizer, loads of delay, and manic throat shredding, Drenched Lands is a slow paced glacial, masterful tribute to dreadful urban overgrowth and decay. I guess only time will tell if this disc can be outdone.
By the way things are going, I can tell that things will only progress with Locrian. They're not your typical "noise" group (it's difficult to call them that, because of the many, many genres they could fit into). With so many bands and labels shoveling out loads of rotten bile monthly, Locrian is really a gem to keep an eye on.
Artist: Clew of Theseus
Artist: Slasher Risk
