Review Summary: Dark ambience and death/doom collide with mixed, but still very interesting results.
Of all the unusual metal albums that 2015 has birthed so far, Chaos Echoes’
Transient is easily one of the most intriguing. Though the material itself isn’t the most experimental or bizarre you’ll ever come across, the band’s approach towards melding dark ambience and extreme metal is rather unique, allowing both components to coexist as opposed one serving as an accent to the other. Unsurprisingly,
Transient is a difficult listen, and one that you’re unlikely to revisit with any kind of regularity. It requires a very specific setting – dark, solitary and undisturbed – to be completely absorbed, and its narrow operating window ultimately proves to be its biggest hindrance. This is because
Transient is not only demanding aurally as well as mentally, but also demanding on your time. It requires session after session for everything to properly congeal together, by which time some listeners will have long moved onto something more instantly gratifying.
The opening track “Senses of The Nonexistent” is an adequate foreshadowing of what’s to come, stylistically speaking. A rigid, pulsating rhythm is joined by tremolo-picked guitar lines that envelop your being, and as if you’ve been caught in a vortex, you’re unwittingly transported to a hostile environment with no apparent means of escape. The inclusion of sonorous, metallic chimes and eerie, deadpan chanting compounds the claustrophobic atmosphere, but not before long you find yourself entranced, steadily nodding your head as the feeling of trepidation subsides. This is thanks to Chaos Echoes’ tendency to play on ideas for several minutes at a time, but not without making subtle alterations that only become apparent by the time a song is approaching its end. “Kyoraksuhugi” is the best example of this tactic, at first coming across as an unchanging maelstrom of hellfire riffs and blast beats, until the guitars suddenly peel back and switch focus to timbral interplay, leaving the drums to their own devices. Repeat listens reveal a perfectly congruent build-climax-cooldown pattern, illustrating that there is still plenty of method behind the madness.
Certainly, the tracks in which Chaos Echoes concentrate on their metal side are strong enough to have carried the album in its entirety, but they are nevertheless divided by escapades into dark ambient territory. This is where
Transient loses some of its lustre. While Reverorum Ib Malacht combined the different elements of their sound so as neither were entirely recognisable, Chaos Echoes have presented theirs as two wholly separate entities. At no point does either element effectively segue into the other, and so the transitions become rather predictable even in light of the supposed formlessness of the music, at times. The result is that the dark ambient tracks feel more like intermissions than they do build-ups, and this wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the respective durations. “Interzone V: Ignorance is Bliss” and “Interzone VI: Realization” both exceed five minutes in length, while “Interzone IV: Intoxicating Beauty” pushes thirteen. Chaos Echoes’ dedication to nuancing is commendable, no doubt, but still doesn’t quite justify the extensive runtimes or intrusive placement of these nebulous numbers.
Transient is not an album without its flaws then, but that’s not to say that it isn’t a good release, nor does it mean the concept behind it lacks potential. The moments in which it hits well and truly outnumber those in which it misses, and the periodic dips in interest are comfortably reconciled by the strength of its highlights alone.
