Terra Tenebrosa - The Reverses review
| Band: | Terra Tenebrosa |
| Album: | The Reverses |
| Style: | Ambient, Avantgarde metal |
| Release date: | June 17, 2016 |
| A review by: | Auntie Sahar |
01. Makoria
02. Ghost At The End Of The Rope
03. The End Is Mine To Ride
04. Marmorisation
05. Where Shadows Have Teeth
06. Exuvia
07. Fire Dances
There's not much that can be easily understood in the bizarre, nightmarish world of Terra Tenebrosa. Then again, perhaps there's not much that's really meant to be. After two full lengths and an EP, fans of the band may eagerly be wondering what the next step is, and if The Reverses provides any clues that make the picture these eerie Swedes paint any clearer. Come, children, and we shall find out by traveling through the rabbit hole yet again. And by "rabbit hole," I mean vortex.
The Reverses could very well be the most cohesive representation of Terra Tenebrosa's sound yet, the one that feels the most as if it allows all aspects of their identity to breathe. As prior fans of the band would probably agree, it's quite easy to simply refer to their formula as Avantgarde metal. Yet if we want to get specific about it, this idiosyncratic approach is something of a swirling maelstrom of industrial, sludge, black metal, and droney, dark ambient influences, thrown into a vicious blender and poured out in a final, entrancingly haunting result. Terra Tenebrosa at first seemed to go more in the dark ambient direction on their debut The Tunnels, then shift more to the industrial/sludge agenda on The Purging, and upon first listen, it appears as though The Reverses seems to balance these two approaches out, being more of a mix of a two than anything else. As we all know, however, first impressions can be faulty.
With many bands that fuse a large number of genres together into their final sound, what you often see happening is that certain tracks on their albums lean more towards one genre over the others, but this is simply not the case with Terra Tenebrosa, especially on The Reverses. Whether the band went more for the sound of their debut or their sophomore effort here is a mystery, one that may drive you mad trying to decipher. At times the music can be extremely catchy, riff-heavy, and bouncy, more like The Purging, but it also oozes of the more ethereal influences of black metal and dark ambient found on The Tunnels. No tracks settle on one stylistic influence over another, and as soon as you feel that one is taking precedence, another pops in and proves you wrong (best examples being "Marmorisation" and the massive "Fire Dances"). This is the mark of spectacular Avantgarde songwriting: the fusion of many different techniques towards the creation of a simply indecipherable whole.
As with previous Terra Tenebrosa albums, The Reverses is a riddle, one that only seems to get more difficult the more you attempt to figure it out. But on this album, the riddle seems more puzzling than ever, as it feels as though the band have finally come into full force with the creation of what could very well be the finest blend of their various influences yet. While The Tunnels and The Purging were certainly not bad albums by any means, The Reverses feels more mature, as if it's the album Terra Tenebrosa always wanted to make, but somehow didn't manage to until now. They have gone deeper into the abyss, further towards the aether and the black clouds of the unknown. And what they've returned with is nothing short of stunning.
Is the music going in reverse? Or is your brain? Only one way to find out.
Comments
Comments: 8
Visited by: 174 users
| Lou Rambler Posts: 53 |
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Written by Lou Rambler on 24.06.2016 at 04:23 I don't use N/A that often on here, but when I do I use it when I feel as though something is just too nonstandard and out of the box to be compared against any type of standardized rating system. I can't really say "good job on playing X style well, you get a 9!" when said style being created is entirely unique to the band in question, and I think that's the case with Terra Tenebrosa. I've used it in the past as well with Botanist, The Body, Sunn O))), and a few others, who I think have also created their own sounds that no other other bands have. I suppose you could always just think of rating each album on its own basis alone, without really comparing it to anything else, but in my experience that's very difficult. When reviewing an album, your mind almost inevitably makes comparisons to what other bands/albums are similar, and then uses its idea of how the album measures up against that for a final rating. N/A is my way of saying "this is peculiar to the point of defying rating, because there's simply nothing else to compare it to"
---- 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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| Lou Rambler Posts: 53 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 24.06.2016 at 04:37 I don't make reviews, but from the outside it seems easier to me to rate an album that way... Anyway, from your review i understand that you enjoy the album and that you think it is, at least, a very good album... so this could be a kind of rating...  Thanks for the explanation 
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| RockSplendid Posts: 68  |
Very very unique and awesome album! Best of their bests and immensely difficult to crack it open as in your great review also mentioned! The most terrifying experience with them as well! So dark and hauntingly interwoven tracks! Last track; nothing less than a dark journey of all you want from TT!
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| LuciferOfGayness Account deleted |
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by [user id=157444] on 26.06.2016 at 21:38 I agree that the last song is probably the most complex one here, but that isn't to say that the others aren't complex and very multidimensional in their own rights. As I said in the review, you can find hints of sludge, industrial, BM, drone, and dark ambient in all the tracks here. Some bring one of those styles out more than others, but they're all there. You just have to really listen for them. If I had to give sub-ratings for this album, probably 9s for songwriting, performance, and production, and then a 10 for originality, because this really just doesn't sound like anything else I can think of, at least not right off the top of my head. And I think most people would agree
---- 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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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62004  |
A big issue whit this band is they visual effects, it scares me away ....
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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