Chaos Echœs - Sustain [Collaboration] review
| Band: | Chaos Echœs |
| Album: | Sustain [Collaboration] |
| Style: | Avantgarde metal, Death doom metal |
| Release date: | April 13, 2018 |
| A review by: | RaduP |
01. Spellbound
02. Harvest Of Souls
Just one album of deconstructing death metal in 2018 wasn't enough for Chaos Ech?s; now they also enlisted a free jazz saxophonist.
Chaos Ech?s have been doing this ritualistic dark ambient thing as a way to contrast with their already atmospheric branch of blackened death metal, and this year's Mouvement saw the two more closely knit together than ever. Now comes Sustain to strip away most of that metal once again and make the most out of the dark ambient side with a pleasant addition of Mats Gustafsson. Of course, you may be excused here on Metal Storm for not being aware of who Gustafsson is, but in the world of free jazz, he is quite a big name, known for his Fire! Orchestra and The Thing projects and also for his collaborations with Merzbow, Sonic Youth and Colin Stetson (whom you may know from Ex Eye). And his free jazz stuff is, to put it mildly, not for everyone.
We're not yet certain if Sustain is a full-length or an extended play, considering it is only 25:52 minutes long, comprising two tracks of surprisingly equal 12:56 length (perhaps there's some hidden symbolism there); we know not much of anything. What we do know is how well Gustafsson's saxophone performance fits over Chaos Ech?s's pulsating, repetitive percussion and droning guitars. "Spellbound" creates a harrowing atmosphere, at a glacial pace that only moves forward through the improvisational percussion. "Harvest Of Souls" builds even more upon the momentum built by "Spellbound", from unnerving to threatening, adding bits of percussive elements and layers of bass bit by bit. While the guitars create the background wall of gloom, the drums create the feeling of impending doom and the saxophone wails and wails. There is no expansive climax, just a feeling of dread, kind of like a never-ending dream where the horrible entity that follows you keeps getting closer and closer.
A soundtrack to a terrible nightmare, a flexing of dark ambiance for Chaos Ech?s, and another case for the saxophone's ability to incorporate free jazz into anything.
Just cut them up like regular chickens
 | Written on 11.05.2018 by Doesn't matter that much to me if you agree with me, as long as you checked the album out. |
Comments
Comments: 7
Visited by: 119 users
| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Yeah I absolutely love this, surprised that it seems to be going so overlooked (at least on here) given the reputation the band has already acquired. I've kind of learned that for many it's not that appetizing when these guys aren't employing a more metallic sound, which they really aren't here, but goddamn this collab is like some dronier, more apocalyptic sounding Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble or something and I fucking love it. Great review Yung Solja.
---- 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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| Zap Posts: 3577  |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 11.05.2018 at 15:04 That description makes me quite curious. The only reason I haven't gotten around to this one is because I was quite underwhelmed by Mouvement, so I just haven't been feeling the Chaos Echoes vibe lately.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by Zap on 11.05.2018 at 15:19 I've noticed that some were indeed, care to elaborate on why? I honestly feel as though they've just been getting better and better with each release.
---- 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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| Zap Posts: 3577 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 11.05.2018 at 16:09 Mouvement just felt kind of normal for Chaos Echoes. There were less surprising or weird parts like I think Transient pulled off so well. The hypnotic build-up in "Advent Of My Genesis" is a fine example of the kind of thing that I missed. Also, it had less variation. The latter could be attributed to the fact that it was only half of Transient's length, but it's not that I don't like Chaos Echoes' more straightforward work, since Tone Of Things To Come is quite great. Mouvement just didn't wow me. I'm definitely not "done" with it though; I will give it more spins eventually. And Transient did set the bar extremely high, so it's hard not to be influenced at least a little bit by my love for it.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by Zap on 11.05.2018 at 16:29 Yeah, fair enough, I get where you're coming from. There's really no aspect of the band that I've come to prefer more than others just yet though, I think. They just seem to be so good at whatever angle they choose to go at each time. I feel like whenever I'm listening to the more meditative, ritualistic stuff, I enjoy it but then may start craving for the heavies after a point.... but thankfully, they have that dimension of their personality readily available as well to satisfy the itch. Certainly a band that knows how to play both sides of the coin extremely well, and even merge them together when the times call for it.
---- 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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| Zap Posts: 3577 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 11.05.2018 at 16:42 They definitely know what they're doing 
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| koob Posts: 367 |
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