Avant-doomsters perform multi-dimensional soul-surgery
A bastion of experimentalism for some of the metal avant- garde’s heaviest hitters, Anatomy Of Habit’s Relapse debut throws out the rulebook and stretches ambitious fingers towards the threshold of perception.
An alchemical mix of doom, noise and goth-tinged post-punk, renowned vocalist Mark Solotroff intones mantras that may make little sense within the bewilderingly powerful moment, but when delivered with his solemnly intoned baritone nevertheless feel revelatory in magnitude, as the music flourishes to collapse around them. Tumultuous crescendos of Neurosis-like riffing melt into dreamlike ethereality, the two 20-minutes-plus tracks avoiding the pitfalls of waning attention span by constantly evolving. Much akin to the experience – and that really is the word for music like this – of listening to Swans for the first time, it can be overwhelming in its cinematic scope. Not like listening to music in the traditional sense, it is about surrendering yourself to a sonic mystery, a dimension of enigmatic potential, never knowing what is around the corner and emerging 40 minutes later feeling altered on a subconscious level.
FINAL VERDICT: 8/10
http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/reviews/2014-10-14/anatomy-of-habit-ciphers-axioms
