Lacolpa’s new album, In Absentia Lucis (Brucia Records) finds the Italian band diving deeper into darkness. Their brand of darkness this time is more experimental than most heard this year. While they still self-identify as a Sludge band there is more common ground with Current 93 than with Neurosis.
Rather than going into the expected chug, they hit you with a swirl of sounds to show you how being sonically heavy is more important than being Heavy Metal. Anytime music touches on minor keys it always sounds heavier; this album takes that further than most.
The question becomes, is darkness and sonic intensity enough for an album to be worth repeat listens? After all, how many times the listener feels compelled to return to it is the litmus test for its merit.
Noise can be used as an effective tool in songwriting as long it’s given the proper contrast. This can be heard in the work of artists such as Swans and Skinny Puppy. Both of them use noise in a BDSM-styled context: first, we are going to punish your ears, since you were a good girl and took that so well you are going to be rewarded with this chorus.
This band has a heavier hand in this regard and is going to appeal to listeners with a more masochistic streak.
The band’s fetish for abstract chaos sometimes causes them to lose the slinky grooves right as they have hooked your attention. This is purposeful, as this is not an album of a jam band just improvising in the moment and the groove just got lost in the moment. They are using this as a punishing dynamic that makes this the ebb and flow of their performance piece.
This is displayed right from the album’s start, as there are not many instances where a ten-minute opening track is warranted but they embrace this indulgence even when moments of simmering ambiance might be trimmed down to equate better songwriting, rather than wallowing in excess.
But this is their creative vision, which can be respected, as there is more substance to taking risks than following a formula to become just another homogenized Metal band. Perhaps the key here is finding that balance.
The songs sometimes collapse in a free Jazz-like manner. This might not appeal to your average metalhead waiting for riffs to headbang to. However, if you have ever wished there was dark and disturbing music to eat mushrooms to instead of the normal hippie garbage, then this album is what you are looking for.
It basks in the dissolution of their songs, to serve as a fitting soundtrack to the living room melting around you. Most people are psychic cowards, who prefer comfort and good vibes to journey into the center of their mind. This album was not made for most people. The only time it comes close to the kind of aggressive hammering you expect from Metal is on the song “Nothing is True.” It is like sludge run through a filter of Diamanda Galas, with a hint of Black Metal when its tempo bubbles up into a frenzied sizzle.
This album is not offering songs as much as it is offering a dissonant journey. If those are the kinds of adventures you seek out then the gates are open here.
Buy the album here:
https://store.bruciarecords.com/product/lacolpa-in-absentia-lucis-brucia-cd-sludge-noise
7 / 10
WIL CIFER
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