Post-metal enigmas BIG | BRAVE reveal the art of starkness.
Vital SOUTHERN LORD
Montreal’s majestic post-metallers go deeper into their crystal maze
BIG | BRAVE HAVE carved a strange and singular career since 2012, and Vital doesn’t see them waver an inch from their solemn trajectory. Like an iceberg alone and utterly adrift, the Montreal trio are less a rock band than a slow, steady, inexorable force of nature that’s unforgiving but also undeniably beautiful. They occupy a space that’s not quite doom, drone, noise- or post-rock, yet it’s one that’s capable of satisfying the more discerning fans of any of those subgenres.
The band carefully hew a series of vast, impossible structures that only seem to make sense when viewed from a great distance. Riffs rise up like huge opalescent towers through which Robin Wattie’s achingly beautiful voice echoes – equal parts otherworldly yodel and harrowingly cathartic ululation. Drawing comparisons with everyone from Sunn O))) and Bardo Pond to Come and Blonde Redhead, their maximal approach to minimalism is often bewildering, like being lost in a maze of crystals. Half Breed, for example, pulls itself up from the ground with a series of rumbles, crumples, creaks and whines, but moves beyond abstraction and forces itself into a gloriously unsteady lope.
Elsewhere, Of This Ilk
demonstrates the kind of huge, rhythmic yaw that should satisfy the most Cro-magnon of riffseekers, while the title track’s closing squalls are nothing short of obliterative. The band’s ability to balance heaviness with fragility speaks to their craft and depth, and it’s fitting that such a deft collective hand should also be picking through themes as complex and nuanced as race, gender and selfhood. Always beautiful and always frighteningly majestic, Vital is instantly accessible and yet incredibly difficult to fully unlock. Another powerful statement from one of the most enigmatic and distinctive entities operating at heavy music’s wildest and most exciting fringes. ■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Anna von Hausswolff,
Sunn O))), Divide And Dissolve
ALEX DELLER