Review Summary: Tumbling slowly down the slippery slope of post-metal
Like a distant star,
The Beginning Of The End is a faraway, opaque album that does little to engage the listener. I get the sense that from up close, or perhaps from a different vantage point, one might appreciate Nahrayan’s overdrawn and monolithic work, but there’s a distinct distance evident that results in an identity-less, diluted album that is merely large for the sake of being large. Draped in layers of post-metal, sludge, and slow, plodding riffs, one can’t help but feel that there’s little lying beneath the surface of this shallow piece. Post-metal is a slippery slope of genre tags; in that without the right elements, the quality of the album takes a sharp turn downhill, and
The Beginning Of The End / The End Of The Beginning exemplifies this theory perfectly.
While there are redeeming factors to be found, like the atmospheric and more eventful preamble to “Red Moon Last Sunrise,” it’s difficult to applaud Nahrayan for what appears to be waste of superb musicianship. As a whole, the track is a gem buried beneath the rubble that is
The Beginning, and one that shows that with more direction and identity, Nahrayan could have created something much more convincing. Bland and lifeless, the aptly, banally-named
The Beginning Of The End / The End Of The Beginning is a gargantuan, lumbering giant, but one with little to say or convey. And little does it convey, indeed. This gives the album an inanimate feel; one that begs not to be remembered or felt, but rather brushed away in favor of more rewarding and sentient albums.
In more specific terms, most of the album is lost and wandering among unfeeling echoes of riffs rather than exacting the level of dynamism that is required, as exemplified by behemoths of the genre, to make a more compelling work. This can be seen in the incorporation of the sludgier riffs, for instance. Occasionally, the slow pacing and graying distortion is incorporated to capture a mood, for a larger purpose. Unfortunately, the meandering, bland likes of “A Dying Sun” do little to speak for this aspect on
The Beginning. The sludge excerpts are more Nahrayan hitting the brakes rather than delving into more engaging territory.
Again, not unlike the distant star in an infinite galaxy comparison,
The Beginning Of The End is unexceptional, destined to be strictly one of the many rather than anything notable. Nahrayan’s offering is flimsy and uninspired, which is even more of a shame considering the brief moments of uninhibited soundscapes that leave an impression, letting us know that, with more focus, Nahrayan has much better material to offer.
