By Rob Thompson
The first thing that attracted me to In Lesser Brightness was the name of the band: Colossus Of Destiny; sound familiar? This is the name of an experimental live album from none other than The Melvins. The second thing was the fact that I’d heard their previous releases: a self-titled debut effort released back in 2010 and Eden which appeared in 2011. For sure, they have an awesome and uncompromising approach to music and with In Lesser Brightness it’s clear that the band have managed to build upon their previous EPs (all of their music is free to download on their Bandcamp site) and this Parisian quintet certainly deliver the goods here: the production is crisp and rich, the drumming thunderous, the solid riffing substantial: all underpinned by a heavyweight vocal performance.
Formed in 2009 the group comprises vocalist Adrien Guilmoteau, guitarists Julien Laville and Mathieu Miquel, bassist Guillaume Taliercio, and drummer Jérémie Le Formal. Each song on their latest EP is strong, in its own way, and contains aggressive powerful influences from the likes of Baroness, early Mastodon, Tool and Kylesa.
The EP opens with ‘Dismay In Empty Eyes’: crashing waves provide a subtle ambience which leads into pounding rhythms and soaring, twisting guitars all underpinned by a sullen bass and growled vocals. No explosions or build-ups just layer upon layer of sludgy musical textures, perhaps with a tiny amount of post-rock and metalcore just to spice things up; a great start to the EP.
Shorter songs follow: ‘Unleashed’ and ‘Get Lost’ are crushing and hard-hitting they use uncompromising sludge as a foundation to build upon, adding hardcore and punk to attack the eardrums in the same way as a High On Fire track does. These two tunes, for me, bled together and lost some of their individual distinctiveness. Don’t get me wrong, these tracks are a blast but perhaps it was just the placing of them of the EP which should’ve been altered? A minor niggle. ‘Naked & Unbound’ closes proceedings and highlights Jérémy Le Formal’s drumming to create a rousing amalgamation of might and contagious listening; a great way to round off an enjoyable EP.
The band should follow-up this release with a full album which will hopefully nail their colours to the mast as to what genre and direction they are trying to follow: blistering all out post-metal assaults or something slightly more melodic? From this EP it’s clear the group have the songwriting capabilities to progress in any direction they choose and I can easily see fans of Mastodon and other bigger groups appreciating the sounds on offer. Link in some heavy promotional activities and extensive touring then there’s absolutely no reason at all that they can’t gain a wider audience and take the first step towards mega-stardom. I recommend you add this EP to your Wish List and give it a spin at the earliest opportunity.
