Saturday 28 February 2015

North - Metanoia


Tracklist:

1. Atrabilious
2. Nefelibata
3. Hiraeth
4. Master

Spending half of your afternoon drinking (lightly I might add) in a bar with a mate takes it of you. Even a bracing stroll home and coffee hasn't helped me feel anymore awake. So I must turn to sludge in order to rock myself to an undoubtedly heavy slumber. Tucson, AZ sludge/post-rock band North released their four-track LP Metanoia last year. It was an independent release spread across all formats. They've recently toured in the US and further afield and are about to start writing a new full-length, so now is a good for you to check them out if you haven't done so already. 

Metanoia begins in quiet fashion, with lowly plucked guitar on Atrabilious before North explodes into a wall of earth-shattering noise. The screams of bassist Evan Leek sound more like the roars of bears and against the off-kilter backdrop of the music, it sounds gut-wrenching. The vocals settle down later on into semi-clean singing when the guitar becomes more spacial. North’s post-rock edge is more evident on the more expansive Nefelibata. The atmospherics spewed forth here are spine-tingling and I’d go as far as to say that this isn’t like anything I’ve heard before. Well, not from the genre/sub-genre of sludge and doom anyway. The melody that's used, while subtle at times really brings out the personality of the band and shows that they’ve really though about the music. As with most bands that have any integrity, North are clearly playing music that they want to hear yet at the same time, they’ve given something to the listener that is more than just sound and words. It’s really very good. Hiraeth further develops North’s use of melody. The soaring vocals tones really jump out at you and make it even harder to categorise what North are doing, which in turn shows more individuality in my opinion. The final track Master is filled with a surprising layer of groove and some stunningly good lead work. That groove carries on throughout and takes this record full-circle, right through from crushing sludge, to earthly post-rock and onto bluesy, groove-laden metal. It’s a pity that this release in as short as it is, because you can easily get lost in its contents and when that happens, you just want it to keep on going. Metanoia is a mature and considered effort and North pull it off. This should wet your appetite as you wait for their new album.

Stream Metanoia here:-



You can purchase it directly from North's bandcamp page, digitally, on tape and on vinyl.

North Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NorthAZ

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