Skip to content

Heavy metal, video games and the void…
Main navigation
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Video Games
  • FAQ / Contact Me
  • About
terraasymmetry February 9, 2018 Heavy Metal, Reviews

Insect Ark – Marrow Hymns (2018) REVIEW

The most compelling part of Insect Ark’s whole artiste-forward approach to their artisinal instrumental psych-doom is how well it communicates personal crises without any vocal noise. I’d really fallen for the patterned breath and well-sung vocal of their track “Piledriver” from the project’s first 7″, thus it was hard to figure why ‘Portal/Well’ didn’t even bother with a microphone near the face. Beyond that single the project seemed to focus entirely on foreboding post-rock atmospherics and bass/slide guitar interplay. The programmed drums of ‘Portal/Well’ made Insect Ark’s sound far too sterile and the lap steel guitar hadn’t really shined as much as Schechter’s wrought and curling Dave Edwardson-esque basslines. Collaboration with drummer Ashley Spungin on ‘Marrow Hymns’ has given the project’s sound the necessarily organic sound it needs to carry a full listen. The dynamic interplay between drum and bass offer just enough fuel to keep a voiceless LP going for 45 minutes.

Though I suppose the ‘voice’ of the project has evolved towards the sound of it’s ‘Long Arms’ EP where the lap steel guitar takes on a host of sonic personalities while alternating lead voicing with synths. As a result of their experimentation with cinematic score ‘Marrow Hymns’ tasks itself with conveying existential delirium quite well, if not with such restraint that several ‘sweet spots’ are passed over for the sake of forward momentum. The dreary guitar lines mull and wrestle back and forth into the mix in such a manner that they seem to stumble off into rants that go absolutely nowhere. The only true offender here is “Slow Ray” that paints itself into those corners and eventually dries up and rescinds it’s warmth into abrupt silence. The pacing of the album suffers from these occasional issues of flow and consistency, where the post-rock soundtrack of it all spirals into clips that appear written for short visual experiences rather than intended for overt spectacle themselves.

Beyond “Sea Harps” the album leans heavily towards Lustmord style shuddering ambient works on ‘[Other]’. The increasingly minimal inclusion of drums, bass and guitar beyond that point makes for an unsatisfying conclusion. With no immediately discernible continuous conceptual relation between the final three tracks it comes across like back-loaded ambient filler. It is odd only because the first six tracks on ‘Marrow Hymns’ Insect Ark are so strong in their creeping post-metal allure and well-conceived variation. The project would either need stronger direction or lead instrumentation to hold my interest for another iteration. I’m left starving for more weepy guitar lines, more harrowing bass-clanging and atmospheric percussion yet more or less satisfied in terms of spectacle and aesthetics. It may be that the cinematic intentions of the project are simply calling for visual interpretation.

a1618659814_10

Artist Insect Ark
Type Album
Released February 23, 2018
BUY/LISTEN on their Bandcamp! Follow Insect Ark on Facebook
Genres
Psychedelic/Post-Rock, Instrumental Doom Metal, Ambient

Reflections irregular. 3.0/5.0

<strong>Help Support Grizzly Butts’ goals with a donation:</strong>

Please consider donating directly to site costs and project funding using PayPal.

$1.00

Please Share, Like & Retweet:

  • Tweet

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Heavy Metal, Reviews and tagged ambient, cinematic ambient, cinematic rock music, experimental doom, experimental post metal, insect ark, insect ark 2018, insect ark album, insect ark marrow hymns, insect ark marrow hymns 2018, insect ark marrow hymns 2018 review, insect ark marrow hymns review, insect ark review, instrumental doom metal, instrumental music, marrow hymns, marrow hymns 2018, marrow hymns review, post-rock, profound lore, psychedelic post rock, psychedelic rock. Bookmark the permalink.

1Comment

Add yours
  1. 1
    Around 2018 in 12 Weeks: Fave 15 of '18 From Mike Langlie - I Heart Noise on September 16, 2020 at 2:02 pm
    Reply

    […] and wails bring visions of an apocalyptic desert landscape. Further Reading: Antihero | SF Sonic | Grizzly Butts | Chimera […]

    LikeLike

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Website Powered by WordPress.com.
Footer navigation
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Secondary navigation
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Search

Post navigation

Ilsa – Corpse Fortress (2018) REVIEW
Deathmarch – Dismember (2017) REVIEW

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    %d bloggers like this: