Review Summary: Post-metal's best-kept secret.
Of all the genres and sub-genres of modern rock music, post-metal is perhaps the only one where originality and outside-the-box thinking continue to be not only allowed, but actively encouraged. Perhaps the most wide-ranging 'umbrella genre' in the rock and metal spectrum – encompassing, as it does, styles as different as post-rock, sludge, doom metal, avant-garde metal and even noise/drone – 'post' has long provided a musical refuge for creative minds seeking to explore the more cerebral and complex side of heavy music, without compromising on aggression.
Just such a collective are Los Angeles' Black Math Horseman, a soon-to-be no-longer one-album-wonder whose self-titled 2009 debut follows on the footsteps of movement leaders like Isis, Neurosis, Pelican, Mastodon or even Godspeed You! Black Emperor, while simultaneously putting their own spin on the standard post/doom/sludge sound – namely, through the use of ethereal female vocals.
However, while many a lesser band might have been tempted to put Sera Timms front and center, as an easy selling point in a primarily male-centric and hormone-driven genre, Black Math Horseman make it clear from the get-go that they are above such a pat, hackneyed stratagem; while there
are vocals on each of the six songs on the album, they are buried deep enough in the mix as to be unintelligible, effectively becoming just another element in the group's intrincately woven sonic textures. Not until devastating eleven-minute closer
Bird of All Faiths and None/Bell From Madrone are they finally showcased – and then, only for Timms' voice to become a whole other kind of otherwordly, eschewing its former ethereal, atmospheric quality to morph into an unearthly bellow of utter despair, in line with the crushing riffery and pounding percussion the band are laying down behind them.
It is not, however, simply in the vocal department that the group refuses to compromise; at no point during these thirty-nine minutes of music is there anything even resembling a catchy hook or memorable chorus – Black Math Horseman do not trade in those. Rather, the Californian four-piece are in the business of creating atmospheres – some ethereal and minimalistic, others oppressively heavy and dense, with the two types often being juxtaposed in the context of the same song to create dynamic mid-tempo sonic landscapes, not unlike those concocted by Godspeed You! Black Emperor in genre-defining masterpiece
F# A# Infinity. Indeed, each of the six cuts on
Wyllt makes flawless use of loud-quiet dynamics, alternating airy semi-acoustic sections and smothering doom/sludge riffs to (for the most part) great effect – even if the declared repetition of the same formula makes some of the songs in the middle portion of the album slightly less attention-grabbing than the instantly imposing, confident dual calling-card of
Tyrant and
Deerslayer, or the terrifying, throat-grabbing closer.
Even at its worst, however,
Wyllt is never anything less than consistently excellent; at its best (the bookends,
Deerslayer, the second half of
Torment of the Metals) it positively smolders. Had this been Black Math Horseman's only contribution to the genre, they would no doubt have accrued a (deserved) cult status in the post-metal circles, and this album have been labelled as one of its best-kept secrets; as it is, with the four-piece about to release their first new material in almost a decade and a half, their self-titled full length makes for a stellar introduction to what the Californians are all about, and places the bar for what is to come incredibly high. Highly,
highly recommended.
[b]Recommended Tracks
Tyrant
Deerslayer
Bird of All Faiths and None/Bell From Madrone
