VARAHA

A Passage For Lost Years PROSTHETIC

Chicago’s post-rock pilgrims forget to give themselves a destination

The basic elements of Varaha’s sound are promising enough, with post-rock, black metal and the quiet/loud dynamic that works so well for their obvious influences. However, for this quartet from Chicago, the music they’ve created does little to capture the imagination in any meaningful way and thus A Passage… meanders aimlessly for much of its one-hour-plus running time. Opening track Severance begins on soft, clean vocal lines that segue into harsher vocals and the music itself is very pretty for much of the time, yet Varaha never quite punch it home, the record never hitting the heights that are promised. By the time the final track rolls around, much of the record has been forgotten and even the shining moments of Climax & Exile are not enough to save it.

FOR FANS OF: Katatonia, Anathema, Alcest

■■■■■■■■■■ existential frustration fuelling this Canadian outsider duo has birthed some truly pestilent sludge, and Preservation Rituals is a double disc re-release of their catalogue to date. Disc one comprises 2016’s EPs

A Steady Descent Into Soil and A Pessimistic Doomsayer – proving pensive and pulsating with intensity when they crank up a notch. Disc two contains their debut LP, Cast Of Static & Smoke. It’s a post-nuclear sci-fi concept album that seethes with discontent, its precipitous rage directed at our current bungling of the big issues and our likely self-imposed, impending doom. With tracks seldom under the 10-minute mark, Preservation Rituals proves a ponderously poisonous listen for those who’d prefer to fall on the right side of history. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Yob,

Bismuth, Thou vocals of bassist Lisa Alley and guitarist Ian Graham work to great effect instilling a feeling of druggy rites and doomy incantations similar to New York’s psych druids Naam, and The Well once again induce the appropriate ‘Cosmic Nod’ effect of heady hypnosis that devotees of the band’s earlier work should be well acquainted with. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Naam, Kadavar, Electric Wizard