Wolvserpent - Aporia:Kāla:Ananta review
| Band: | Wolvserpent |
| Album: | Aporia:Kāla:Ananta |
| Style: | Drone doom metal |
| Release date: | March 2016 |
01. Aporia:Kāla:Ananta
The wolf is an able predator, of quick movement and firm body, able to take down its prey relatively easily. Snakes are lower on the food chain, however, and must resort to more stealth and concealement for survival. What happens when nature's winding trails make these two creatures cross paths? Enter Wolvserpent.
The American Wolvserpent play a droney brand of metal, but simply labeling them as that would be greatly understating what this powerful duo is all about, as this year's Aporia:Kāla:Ananta demonstrates. Technically an EP, it feels much more like a full album, with a single, massive track clocking just over the 40 minute mark. The music here is in turn slowly paced, taking its time to build to its peak, but is nonetheless very multidimensional, containing an impressive range of moods and stylistic influences. It almost feels operatic in a sense, with multiple "movements" that all seem unique in their own right but are somehow undeniably attached to the spine of a common theme.
A powerful genre-blender, Aporia:Kāla:Ananta excellently demonstrates that the best way to fuse different genres together is often in finding their similarities. The music begins with a very mononotonous, doomy approach, before transitioning into some beautiful, neoclassical type violin work, not too unlike that from A Forest Of Stars. This then gives way to a more aggressive sound that most closely resembles black metal, before descending into a droney, Sunn O)))-like sound later. The lesson here is that these are all genres with very minimalist compositional approaches, and Wolvserpent exploit that common trend between them to make them fit splendidly into their drone recipe. The music here is drone, but it also isn't, in an inexplicable paradox.
Like a wolf, Aporia:Kāla:Ananta is raw, assertive, and has an incredibly heavy body. But like a snake, it also has a more hidden, mysterious aura about it as well, owing to the puzzle resulting from its complex and creative mashup of influences. Maybe this is why these musicians took the name Wolvserpent for their band, or perhaps I'm just using random similes in an attempt to make this review more interesting (probably the latter). Either way, this is easily the most ambitious release I've yet heard this year in its department. Worthy of a listen for the drone and non-drone fans alike.
 | Written on 07.08.2016 by Metal Storm’s own Babalao. Comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable since 2013. |
Comments
Comments: 12
Visited by: 159 users
| LuciferOfGayness Account deleted |
LuciferOfGayness
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At last...  Good review. The thing missing is a discussion of the title and how, if it does so, it works with the music. Anyways, good job 
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| Maratha Posts: 63 From: India  |
Written by Guest on 07.08.2016 at 09:55 Title would be roughly translated 'Doubt:Time:Infinity'. This album title could be interpreted in many ways. Excellent review though.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA  |
Written by Maratha on 07.08.2016 at 12:10 I figured it was in Sanskrit, because, as someone who's really into Hinduism, I know that Kala is time (or death, I've heard it's used interchangeably), and the huge serpent that Vishnu has is Ananta Shesha. Thanks for the actual translation though, that will probably make me look at the album a bit differently now when listening
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Cynic Metalhead Paisa Vich Nasha Posts: 6808 From: India  |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 07.08.2016 at 14:06 Correct, except Kala doesn't have anything to do with death at all and is god of time.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 08.08.2016 at 12:25 I got that impression because in the version I have of the Bhagavad Gita, the translator says that in that famous quote from Krishna ("Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds"), it can also be understood as "I am time," so Kala is both death and time (which kind of makes sense, since time inevitably leads to death). I'll take your word for it though as someone who probably knows way more about the language and culture than I do
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Cynic Metalhead Paisa Vich Nasha Posts: 6808 From: India |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 08.08.2016 at 13:34 Exactly. But, do you know it's been mixed with "Kaal" which means "time of doom" with co-relation to "death"?! The one said by Krishna meant the Kaal here. Anyhow, both makes sense but if you just go deeply, you'll find there is slight difference between "Kala" and "Kaal". Indians doesn't accept both words in same linguistic.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA |
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 08.08.2016 at 14:14 Interesting man, thanks for the trivia. It is perhaps interesting context for the overall theme of this album
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| LuciferOfGayness Account deleted |
LuciferOfGayness
Account deleted Written by Auntie Sahar on 07.08.2016 at 14:06 Aporia is also a common concept in western philosophy, Platos dialogues often end in aporia. The term is also widely discussed in post-structuralism. I am not really sure though how to handle such a term in relation to the music  So at the moment I am fully satisfied with just listening to this amazing album.I find the album a bit hard to rate, so 8.5 is a well evaluated rating. I am curios though, which albums in this genre do you think are better?
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5934 From: USA |
Written by Guest on 09.08.2016 at 22:07 I still think Altar (the Sunn O))) / Boris collab) is probably the best release out there for drone. The sound is simply massive and really diverse with some tracks being gigantic and crushing and others being more atmospheric and almost like ballads in a way. Sunn O)))'s Monoliths & Dimensions is also impressive with all the nonmetal instruments and guest musicians on it, like I said in this review, that would be another album where that "it's drone, but it isn't" type feeling applies. Drone is a really varied, creative genre, people kind of underestimate how the free form nature of it basically forces you to come up with your own sound, so there are bands all across the board. Because of that, it's really hard to sometimes say what albums are "better" or "worse" than others, even though I have the ones I like most. Some other favs of mine would probably be the first Spear Of Gold And Seraphim Bone album from Aderlating, as well as Atonal Hypermnesia from P.H.O.B.O.S., which usually gets labeled as industrial doom but I think there's a good deal of drone influence to it as well
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Maratha Posts: 63 From: India |
Http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kFADyFlDLXs This could also fall well into the category of Wolvserpent, having a ritualistic and dark atmosphere.
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| LuciferOfGayness Account deleted |
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| LuciferOfGayness Account deleted |
LuciferOfGayness
Account deleted Written by Auntie Sahar on 09.08.2016 at 23:19 Trying out your recs...
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