From the reviews I have read about Locust Leaves there seems to be a never-ending stream of “I love I Voidhanger Records”, as they seem to latch on to bands who can offer that something different.
The album cover is one of the most quirky I have seen in a long time and quite scary if truth be known.
The first track ‘Light/Fos’ can be classed as epic with operatic vocal intensity and strange noises that melt into the track. It can’t quite make up its mind if it wants to be thrash, Black, Prog or Epic but it certainly is very jazzed up and confusing.
‘Pillar / Vraxos’ takes us on a turbulent journey of bumpy seas and a storm of progressive complexity. The vocals somehow seem to get lost in the jazzy rhythms and leave you scratching your head as to what direction it is going to take you. It is definitely heavy and dramatic in places but isn’t something that I could enjoy listening to as it is far too embellished and I prefer the more simple approach to metal be it death, tech death or melo death, so this pushes me well out of my comfort zone.
‘Fall / Ptosi’ gives the piano a chance to shine and calms down the proceedings to the barest minimum, with repetitive rhythms. Ambling and yawning its way through a rather long winded intro and then suddenly swipes the ears with a torturous beat. So really it has mutated somewhat back to its rugged terrain and irritable character. I think I am beginning to understand the cover a whole lot better now – like it is being retrained – I could be wrong but this is what the music feels like to me now.
‘Flight / Ptisi’ the final track is again quirky but takes a while to get going which is annoying although ambient and atmospheric you can’t help but listen to the end to see if you are missing something. I quite like that it keeps you gripped to see what finally unfolds. It makes me wonder what they sound like live at a venue, I should imagine quite dark and mysterious – but whether people would stay and listen till the end is anyone’s guess, as some of the progressive jazzy tracks do leave you in a confused state. But if you like quirky go listen!
Locust Leaves A Subtler Kind of Light is our through I Voidhanger Records on 17th March 2017.
