Imagine a huge mountain that reaches all way up into the clouds, with one solitary mammoth castle perched on top. Then wonder if the castle walls could talk, or how the wind sounds as it creeps its way around this structure of light & darkness. One album holds the answers to these questions – it’s the new Locrian album, The Clearing, which is out now via Fan Death Records. From the smallest to the biggest soundscape, this album is rich in emotion and texture. From the first song, “Chalk Point,” you know that you will encounter all sorts of audio rawness. When I heard this track, I felt like I was that lost, lonely soul in a horror movie, seeking redemption and trying to find my way out of this laboratory called life. Next, Locrian guides you on your walk with minimal receptive piano notes, and ghostly chants act as candlelight for your way. I really dig how this tune evokes a heavy feeling without the use of very many instruments. The Clearing is epic on many different levels – one of them being that Locrian is able to take your darkest sonic thoughts and inject them with a sense of blackened warmth. The best way to understand where I’m coming from would be to listen to their gnarly song “Augury in an Evaporating Tower”
– the dark majesty of this tune will give you the answers you need. I’m so amazed by this song, because it twists my thoughts around weird bleeps, then dips them into the abyss where only screaming skeletons dwell, before bathing my nightmares in a shower of cryptic melody. The songwriting on this record is full of surprises that will awaken parts of your being that you might not see on the regular. As I listen to The Clearing, I feel like a snake shedding its skin, because with every spin of this record I hear something new. Locrian knows how to say so much without the use of vocals, because they truly know how convey what they want you to hear or feel with their instruments. But there are vocals on this album, and when they do come in they will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It’s so fucking cool that so much thought and soul goes into what this band does, but you never get the sense that their music is overly thought out, instead there is an effortless, organic feel to this album. The Clearing will be the album that you put on no matter the weather, because from the darkness comes light!
Antonio
December 19, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Brilliant album! What happened to the rest of the list though? I really wanted to find out who you were going to crown the top 3!
LegNine
December 20, 2011 at 2:03 am
They’ll post the next three just as they’ve posted the last ten. One by one.