It's been a long time, a really long time, the Vitrun artwork seems to have burned in to the screen and the resolute inertia needs a jolt. The time in absentia was spent on a different geographical location, the place were I was born and then I had a moment of spotlight in the metal hemisphere. The days in solitude and contemplation fostered an new resolution a week before new year, I promised myself I won't impose my passions and creations on anyone. My joys are my own and no one has to suffer for it, I don't want anyone to pretend to like the things I like. You may call me mad, crazy, pathetic or pretentious, I don't mind for this is who I am. For you dear reader the take away here is you are reading this on your own free will and I thank you for that.
Frank Zappa once said
"The mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground."
I found Barús, yes I found them and I have to thank Angry Metal Guy comment section for that. It is not like they are the most underground or kvlt band around but I had to do some searching. I found their debut to be the best 2018 had to offer, now that's some statement I made there and there are going to be skeptics and to those I offer you a ride, hop on.
Drowned starts of the way I want all metal albums to start, no symphonic intro, no acoustic noodling and no samples whatsoever. Descry opens the album and brings us right into the action. Heavy layered and dense, the song grooves like Nothing era Meshuggah but with a much warmer guitar tone and a varied vocal attack. Tempos slow down, words are spoken and then behold the blast beats. A desperate wail and the opening riffs comes back in the outro and that riff can move mountains.
Barús sounds like a grainy coarse Neurosis album build over a technical groove laden Meshuggah base with an Ulcerate's ear for visceral soundscapes hovering along with the ominous dirges and diverse vocals of Triptykon . The lines between the four bands are always blurred and the vocals cover low growls, wails, shrieks, clean singing and spoken words such as those that starts off Graze. The words "growing insight" gets more and more intense, the singer catches his breath and then all of a sudden the song Engorge breaks down into a Dillinger Escape Plan jazzy mellow noodling. In the song's outro an uplifting strummed chord progression (it almost sounds like Acquired Taste by Leprous) contrasts with the low palm muted chugs creating a tension release synergy, one of the most emotional and epic moments of the album.
The band understands how huge and intense they have become at this point and so comes the first interlude Amass. After the break Dissever starts off as their drummer makes the count and Barús grooves again, you can almost hear Triptykon's Aurorae in the spoken word section of the song. Vitiate is the blackest song of the album with blast beats, tremolo runs and an unhinged vocal delivery. The second interlude of the album Benumb unlike Amass is used to prepare you for the final two songs and it's fitting that those two are the strongest and the most intense of Drowned.
Perpetrate starts of like song The Exquisite Machinery of Torture by Meshuggah of the album Chaosphere with its doomy mechanical marching riff. From this point the album reaches a more melancholic introspective mode and you can feel the change in emotion. At its faster moments you can hear Ulcerate's Everything is Fire dissonant voicings and all of a sudden there is a breakdown that is unmistakably Opeth. The clean guitar melody evokes the kind of feel that only Opeth is capable of (listen to the second half of the song The Wilde Flowers of Sorcerers) at this moment Barús is more than the sum of their influences and everything collides into white noise at the song's finale.
Drowned ends like the way every great record should end, with a song that concludes and encapsulates the vision of the album. Forsake traverse all the sonic landscapes that the album covered so far in its 8 minute duration. Guitar solos makes an appearance for the first time and so is the Devin Townsend-esque clean singing that rises above the dense guitars and double bass rolls into an emotional zenith. The song fades away bringing the album to a solemn halt and what follows is a forlorn silence.
The heavy layering and the wall of sound production do support the album title and it does drowns you into the depths. However the mastering is on the Ulcerate side of things, its loud and compressed but not enough to cause fatigue and that has a lot to do with the album's phasing. The interludes appear just when they are needed and the songs never fixate to an idea. The grindy guitar tone (which almost sounds like the amazing This Ruined World by Trials) gives the riffs the necessary rawness and a sense of danger.
Drowned is the best metal album released in 2018, at least to me. It is a shame that most of the major metal sites and blogs have overlooked this debut by Barús. They are all going to regret this, I see a future where bands try hard to emulate this record's sound. They are French and we have seen a plethora of Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord clones.
Barús sounds like a grainy coarse Neurosis album build over a technical groove laden Meshuggah base with an Ulcerate's ear for visceral soundscapes hovering along with the ominous dirges and diverse vocals of Triptykon . The lines between the four bands are always blurred and the vocals cover low growls, wails, shrieks, clean singing and spoken words such as those that starts off Graze. The words "growing insight" gets more and more intense, the singer catches his breath and then all of a sudden the song Engorge breaks down into a Dillinger Escape Plan jazzy mellow noodling. In the song's outro an uplifting strummed chord progression (it almost sounds like Acquired Taste by Leprous) contrasts with the low palm muted chugs creating a tension release synergy, one of the most emotional and epic moments of the album.
The band understands how huge and intense they have become at this point and so comes the first interlude Amass. After the break Dissever starts off as their drummer makes the count and Barús grooves again, you can almost hear Triptykon's Aurorae in the spoken word section of the song. Vitiate is the blackest song of the album with blast beats, tremolo runs and an unhinged vocal delivery. The second interlude of the album Benumb unlike Amass is used to prepare you for the final two songs and it's fitting that those two are the strongest and the most intense of Drowned.
Perpetrate starts of like song The Exquisite Machinery of Torture by Meshuggah of the album Chaosphere with its doomy mechanical marching riff. From this point the album reaches a more melancholic introspective mode and you can feel the change in emotion. At its faster moments you can hear Ulcerate's Everything is Fire dissonant voicings and all of a sudden there is a breakdown that is unmistakably Opeth. The clean guitar melody evokes the kind of feel that only Opeth is capable of (listen to the second half of the song The Wilde Flowers of Sorcerers) at this moment Barús is more than the sum of their influences and everything collides into white noise at the song's finale.
Drowned ends like the way every great record should end, with a song that concludes and encapsulates the vision of the album. Forsake traverse all the sonic landscapes that the album covered so far in its 8 minute duration. Guitar solos makes an appearance for the first time and so is the Devin Townsend-esque clean singing that rises above the dense guitars and double bass rolls into an emotional zenith. The song fades away bringing the album to a solemn halt and what follows is a forlorn silence.
The heavy layering and the wall of sound production do support the album title and it does drowns you into the depths. However the mastering is on the Ulcerate side of things, its loud and compressed but not enough to cause fatigue and that has a lot to do with the album's phasing. The interludes appear just when they are needed and the songs never fixate to an idea. The grindy guitar tone (which almost sounds like the amazing This Ruined World by Trials) gives the riffs the necessary rawness and a sense of danger.
Drowned is the best metal album released in 2018, at least to me. It is a shame that most of the major metal sites and blogs have overlooked this debut by Barús. They are all going to regret this, I see a future where bands try hard to emulate this record's sound. They are French and we have seen a plethora of Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord clones.
I pat myself for having found this amazing record, it is the Ulcerate Meshuggah love child that I always dreamed about. Good things don't always come to you, you have to search for it and those that are right before your eyes and are apparent may not always be the best.
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