MARASME 'Malsons' LP

Mallorcan post-sludge demolition corp MARASME present their most recent album 'Malsons'. Their Mediterranean roots give an interesting skew to their Cult Of Luna vocal worship and Year Of No Light inflected riffing, music in this genre tends to feel cold, MARASME show that it is possible to feel isolated even under the blazing sun!

 

As can be expected the tracks here show great attention to detail in the songwriting, tempos shift, drums build and descend, and vocals rise and fall, in places there are even some abstracted noise sections.The album is dominated by the hoarse screamed vocals of Jeroni, featuring lyrics inspired by everything from Orwellian literature to Mallorcan folklore, all in relation to the album's title.

 

'Malsons' in Catalan means 'Nightmare', and this is explored thoroughly by the band on this release, though the dynamics of the record may shift, the tone remains heavy throughout and what clean interludes that exist are there only to underline the next crashing chunk of riff, like the pattering of rain just before the thunderclap.

The album ends on a high, almost uplifting riff on the track 'Ruines', presumably signalling the glimmer of hope on waking from the darkness.

 

This is a well constructed, expertly performed and very intelligent album, the many references to great literature scattered throughout attest to this as readily as the expertly interwoven influences, nods to bands like High On Fire rubbing shoulders with Neurosis as if those sounds always belonged together.

A churning riff nightmare, this one will have post-whatever, sludge and even metal and crust fans nodding their heads.