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| #FOR FANS OF: Atmospheric Black, Lustre |
With the flowery synth that would make Lustre blush, Barren Canyon lulls a listener with a catharsis of calm, a slight hint of danger, and sprinkles of mystery in its sophomore full-length. Six minutes later, “Congress of Oak” unleashes hell with a disastrous tumble down a cliff's edge, ripping clothes on spiked rocks, flaying skin off snapping bones, and introducing a new victim to its 'World of Wounds'. In two long tracks comprising a formidable full-length, this Toronto twosome fills just over thirty-five minutes with an evocative soundscape that conjures images of Ents creaking as they sway and deliberating in whispers of winds before growling at Isengard and beginning a march to destroy the decadence that so devastated Fangorn Forest. Fury comes in clouds of guitar resonance, shrill shrieking screams of synth and string alike, black metal blasting, and long rolling fills all backed by an unwavering drawn-out chanting and wisps of melodies that heave forward wave after wave of arboreal animosity. However, with that fury comes anguish at the devastation wrought throughout such a tumultuous song as “Congress of Oak” comes to a close.
“Taiga Blooms” has an almost air raid siren sound to its wailing treble across the top, screaming at the headache induced by a blizzard and giving voice to the trees cracking and snapping in the icy winds. Eventually the song quiets itself to that mysterious synth again, as though the bridge of the Enterprise is on standby mode with only that annoying whistling at Uhura's station occupying the dormant stations. Layering keyboards below this sound makes for a cavernous exploration of a palatial cave, as if humans are discovering a lost dwarven city beneath a mountain before accidentally tripping on a switch that sets its forge chugging into life and choking out when the coal fails to enter the furnace. Leaving the abandoned and undermined mountain to see that night has fallen across the snowy forest, the straying synth gently coaxes your neck upwards to observe the menagerie of stars gracefully igniting the sky, leaving the traverse illuminated in a shimmering back and forth between distant glimmers and welcoming powders. “Taiga Blooms” when a silent tranquility blankets a biome and all animals who inhabit it stop for a moment simply to observe the peace, a serenity finally found in the end of so many tragedies and terrors.
Barren Canyon does well to observe the animation of the animal kingdom among the tranquility of timbers and honors both with a longing sound that rises to the vivacious occasion of a beating heart while noting its impermanence among generational growths, let alone ages of stars. (Five_Nails)
“Taiga Blooms” has an almost air raid siren sound to its wailing treble across the top, screaming at the headache induced by a blizzard and giving voice to the trees cracking and snapping in the icy winds. Eventually the song quiets itself to that mysterious synth again, as though the bridge of the Enterprise is on standby mode with only that annoying whistling at Uhura's station occupying the dormant stations. Layering keyboards below this sound makes for a cavernous exploration of a palatial cave, as if humans are discovering a lost dwarven city beneath a mountain before accidentally tripping on a switch that sets its forge chugging into life and choking out when the coal fails to enter the furnace. Leaving the abandoned and undermined mountain to see that night has fallen across the snowy forest, the straying synth gently coaxes your neck upwards to observe the menagerie of stars gracefully igniting the sky, leaving the traverse illuminated in a shimmering back and forth between distant glimmers and welcoming powders. “Taiga Blooms” when a silent tranquility blankets a biome and all animals who inhabit it stop for a moment simply to observe the peace, a serenity finally found in the end of so many tragedies and terrors.
Barren Canyon does well to observe the animation of the animal kingdom among the tranquility of timbers and honors both with a longing sound that rises to the vivacious occasion of a beating heart while noting its impermanence among generational growths, let alone ages of stars. (Five_Nails)
(Avantgarde Music - 2018)
Score: 75
https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/world-of-wounds
Score: 75
https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/world-of-wounds