Eerie - Amplifier theosophy
(I wrote about Eerie's live show earlier.)
In what is likely best classified as falling under the drone-laden side of doom metal, this pleasant demo is emotionally pensive with a twinge of remorse, rather than the solemn and mournful tone one might expect from music in this sub-genre. Indeed, Eerie’s “Amplifier theosophy,” while entirely without vocals, is quite a reflective piece of music. As each note rings out it makes you feel like you are at home remembering things that you wished had never happened. Although rather slow and drone influenced, it is still interesting enough to listen to in its own right because it never degrades into the realm of background noise. Also, despite having drone influences, the band wisely refrained from down-tuning guitars until they sound like churning stomachs.
“Amplifier theosophy” is a pleasant and relaxing listening experience primarily because the band conveys the negative themes discreetly - mostly through emptiness in the composition. This allows the for the intuitive composition and awesome guitar tone to shine through, take over, and sooth the listener. This guitar tone is wonderful throughout the entire demo. Rich harmonic undertones serve to heighten the relaxing feeling, and with the word “Amplifier” as part of the demo’s title such a high-quality timbre is not at all surprising. Here, chords almost glimmer, which is important because the riffs themselves are not always particularly memorable and having each moment sound so good helps make up for the fact that there melody does not develop very far.
This is what I mean by intuitive composition, i.e. the melodies are essentially arpeggios of the underlying chords or arpeggiated chords interspersed with single note quasi-solo leads (in a slow way). Nothing on this demo is unexpected and it all sounds like it strictly sticks to a single key signature. Because of this, if the band did not do so well at creating a relaxing mood the music would end up sounding really hackneyed. Instead, the almost obvious melodies create that homey feeling without coming off as boring, but it comes close. It cuts both ways because without anything melodically jarring or abrasive you can just sit back and listen. Additionally, some riffs sound very rock influenced and the whole demo kind of melds together as one song.
The most obvious comparison I can think of is to Earth's “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull” yet Eerie ends up sounding noticeably darker and heavier. Although musically soothing, there is a delicate sense of weakness/remorse in the music. For a exemplary example, listen to how at the start of “And Graciously...” that full enveloping sound momentarily peels away for the short part of the riff with the quick triplets. It shows the band using relatively empty sections to create a darker mood. These darker feelings are amplified by how sparse the drumming can be throughout the demo (e.g. transitions during “And Graciously...” and the first couple minutes of “Both in”). When Eerie decides not to have chords ringing out, the sparse drum work makes the music quite minimalistic. Considering that there are no vocals, it is surprising that the demo does not sound sparser but Eerie effectively uses relative emptiness as a compositional tool.
Despite the weaknesses, the demo is still good. Consistently full and engendering an enveloping feeling without having a single grating or unpleasant moment, Eerie is a band worth paying attention to.
“Amplifier theosophy” is a pleasant and relaxing listening experience primarily because the band conveys the negative themes discreetly - mostly through emptiness in the composition. This allows the for the intuitive composition and awesome guitar tone to shine through, take over, and sooth the listener. This guitar tone is wonderful throughout the entire demo. Rich harmonic undertones serve to heighten the relaxing feeling, and with the word “Amplifier” as part of the demo’s title such a high-quality timbre is not at all surprising. Here, chords almost glimmer, which is important because the riffs themselves are not always particularly memorable and having each moment sound so good helps make up for the fact that there melody does not develop very far.
This is what I mean by intuitive composition, i.e. the melodies are essentially arpeggios of the underlying chords or arpeggiated chords interspersed with single note quasi-solo leads (in a slow way). Nothing on this demo is unexpected and it all sounds like it strictly sticks to a single key signature. Because of this, if the band did not do so well at creating a relaxing mood the music would end up sounding really hackneyed. Instead, the almost obvious melodies create that homey feeling without coming off as boring, but it comes close. It cuts both ways because without anything melodically jarring or abrasive you can just sit back and listen. Additionally, some riffs sound very rock influenced and the whole demo kind of melds together as one song.
The most obvious comparison I can think of is to Earth's “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull” yet Eerie ends up sounding noticeably darker and heavier. Although musically soothing, there is a delicate sense of weakness/remorse in the music. For a exemplary example, listen to how at the start of “And Graciously...” that full enveloping sound momentarily peels away for the short part of the riff with the quick triplets. It shows the band using relatively empty sections to create a darker mood. These darker feelings are amplified by how sparse the drumming can be throughout the demo (e.g. transitions during “And Graciously...” and the first couple minutes of “Both in”). When Eerie decides not to have chords ringing out, the sparse drum work makes the music quite minimalistic. Considering that there are no vocals, it is surprising that the demo does not sound sparser but Eerie effectively uses relative emptiness as a compositional tool.
Despite the weaknesses, the demo is still good. Consistently full and engendering an enveloping feeling without having a single grating or unpleasant moment, Eerie is a band worth paying attention to.
- Eerie now has a full-length out and the band has instructed people to message them through their Facebook about it.
- Ordering information for the demo can be found here: http://opalsoundstudio.com/about.
- You can listen to Eerie here: Eerie's Reverb Nation page.
- You can listen to Eerie here: Eerie's Reverb Nation page.
No comments:
Post a Comment