Labels: Larry Records/Zegema Beach Records
Formats: Tape/Digital
Release Date: 19 Apr 2019
Tracklist:
1. Apostles Of Eris - ...and one for all that I know
2. Apostles Of Eris - Fascist Pacifist
3. Apostles Of Eris - Mikey Got His Gun
4. Apostles Of Eris - A fire for your horrid life...
5. Apostles Of Eris - The Eye
6. Raining - blank tree
7. Raining - inoperant
8. Raining - two mirrors
9. Raining - Sleepy ernst
10. Raining - chervonenkis in the swamp
Way back in March 2019 I premiered a song from both Apostles Of Eris and Raining in advance of this split, but like an idiot I didn't review the full thing upon it's release. It was released as a limited tape pressing of 100 copies via Larry Records and Zegema Beach Records, which to date counts as it's only pressing. For those unaware, Apostles Of Eris are from USA/Canada while Raining are from New Zealand.
Apostles of Eris have been super prolific since their first release in 2016 (the split tape with The World That Summer), in fact this split with Raining counted as their third release in 2019 alone (if Discogs is correct). While it’s classed as an album it’s weird to think that Apostles Of Eris haven’t actually released a proper full-length of their own yet. There’s still plenty of time for that though!
They begin their side of this release with ‘…and one for all that I know’, which is a gloriously melodic yet powerful piece of screamo. An intense opener complete with a subtle build-up of emoviolence to start things off. After an angry spoken-word sample, ‘Fascist Pacifist’ and it’s down-tempo heaviness takes over. The dual screams of Jesse Mowery and David Norman provide as much emotion and depth as the instrumentation does.
‘Mikey Got His Gun’ is the longest song on AOE’s side and it’s delivered with a nod towards panic chord-stricken screamo, albeit with a lot more melody and a sense of coherence that’s unfathomable to my ears at least. The penultimate song on their side of this split ‘A fire for your horrid life…’ may well be the bookend to their opener (I don’t know?) but what I can say for certain is that it’s epic! It’s loud and full of what makes AOE such a great band.
Ending with ‘The Eye’, there’s a real sense of calm and contentment flowing through AOE’s music, as if all along they only wanted to write music to make people feel at peace. I mean, I say “only” because I can’t speak for them directly. I can only speak about how I interpret it and how it makes me feel.
The split’s latter half is all about Raining and ‘blanktree’, which comes at you with much more rawness and less melody initially. That rawness feels greater thanks to the distorted vocals; however, it’s not long before Raining turn one hundred and eight degrees, choosing musicality over madness with clean guitar work, subtle percussion and what sounds like brass/woodwind.
After an extended period of ambient noise towards the end of ‘blanktree’ that continues into ‘inoperant’, you’re greeted with a song that’s filled with more urgency, yet where Raining don’t alter their song-writing stance at all. Their shortest song ‘two mirrors’ is a glorious acoustic one that’s joined by soothing spoken-word vocals. It’s a loverly way to break up the split’s heaviness for a moment.
‘Sleepy ernst’ is sensitive to the vibes you might be feeling after that previous song, as it starts off gently and builds slowly, albeit with harsh vocals once again. Later, those harsh vocals are joined by off-kilter time signatures and added dissonance. It’s not an overly heavy song but one that’s full of body and poise. Closing what is still their only release to date, ‘chervonenkis in the swamp’ is the closest Raining get to avant-garde screamy jazz weirdness.
In typical fashion this split’s final song is also it’s longest. It highlights the inventiveness that Raining exudes (or exuded) in such an emotive way. I know that some people reading this review will be more familiar with split EPs and singles, but split (and even collaborative) albums have been growing in frequency and popularity more recently. I’m totally here for it as both Apostles Of Eris and Raining execute their’s perfectly.
You can stream and purchase the split digitally via Apostles Of Eris and Raining (respectively) on bandcamp below:-
Apostles Of Eris - https://www.facebook.com/thegoddessprevails
Physical tape copies are long sold out via Larry Records but you can still grab some from Zegema Beach Records here:-
CAN/INTL - http://www.zegemabeachrecords.com/zegema-beach-releases/aoe-raining
USA - https://zbrusa.com/collections/zbr-releases/products/apostles-of-eris-raining-split-cassette
Larry Records - https://www.facebook.com/larryscrammo
Zegema Beach Records - https://www.facebook.com/zegemabeachrecords