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Review:
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Apparitions are a three piece
drone metal act consisting of guitar, drums, and
modular synths. This band takes the sparse
echoing drums of Bell Witch, the overdriven
droning guitars of Sunn O))), the "noise as
sonic sculpture" mentality of Sonic Youth, and
Pere
Ubu style modular synths to create
something harsh yet beautiful.
Convulsing Earth kicks off the proceedings
with a long droning tune, almost nine minutes,
which is an appropriate length for this kind of
music. I like that there is kind of a drum solo,
the guitar drone parting and the drummer just
keeping a scattered beat, before the waves of
synth and guitar some crashing back in.
The drumming sounds lighter and jazzier on With
Your Veins Full of Night, drummer Grant
Martin playing a subtle counterpoint to the
grinding guitar. After the guitar fades out and
the drums thump to an end, the song transitions
into Residuel. This is a less than two
minutes long, more of a coda to the previous
song really. It is just synths, which soar up
like in a sci-fi movie, a spacey drone. Really
nicely done by Igor Imbu, but honestly the way
these two tracks flow it is hard to notice where
one ends and the next begins. They work together
nicely.
Dancing on the Grace of a Son of a Bitch
features some heavy drumming, and guitarist
Andrew Dugas playing a grinding, soaring guitar
part. This song builds nicely, intensely.
And the final track here is As the Last
Lights Depart which stretches out to 18
minutes, which really is appropriate for this
style of music. The length allows everything to
stretch out, the drums and guitar fade into a
synth bit of strange staticky noises, then
coming back in, the guitar drone overpowering
the static as an organlike drone simmers in the
background. This ebbs and flows nicely.
Apparitions exist at a strange fusion point of
music that is almost jazzy but at the same time
has some elements of metal or noise rock. I
think that Volcanic Reality is a
very interesting fusion.
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