Geryon | facebook | bandcamp |
Released on April 8, 2016 via Profound Lore Records
Projects like Krallice are the projects that solidify American black metal to be at its pinnacle. All their material has been as challenging yet addicting as I want metal to be, with technical riff work and wild, immeasurable track compositions that kept each release moving in new directions. So when I heard Geryon, Krallice bassist and vocalist Nicholas McMaster and drummer Lev Weinstein, showcasing their self-titled debut back in 2013 I was a little more than impressed. The band took the technicality of what Krallice achieves and stripped it right back to the bones; the band consisted of only bass and drums, creating a form of death metal that is murky in atmosphere yet guttural and chaotic. The debut was a memorable monument in the constant slew of new releases, and The Wound and the Bow has just about transcended that.
This sophomore release sees 7 pieces of intricately woven yet purely crushing technical death metal that winds and warps from start to finish, offering a disorienting experience that will crush you as much as it will envelope you. Geryon have honed the interaction between the only two instruments used perfectly on this record, surpassing the more straight-forward death metal styles put forth on the debut.
The Wound and the Bow is something else entirely; the music the duo have forged is far more hypnotic and requires full attention in order to absorb the innumerable tempo changes and intricacies. This instantly makes me think listeners will be turned off by this, however if you allow it to take over your senses the result is indescribable. The low-end rumbling of the bass tone alternating with the twangs of the riff work created feels like a musical language of its own; the drums sound utterly primitive and mutant at the same time as they carry each piece. ‘Silent Command’ opens the record up with a rolling riff that fluctuates from an almost soaring height to a distorted grumble, coupled with the pained distant yells of McMaster, the track sounds like a call to ancient sentient beings. Eerie percussive grinding leads into ‘Dawn’ one of the most impenetrable tracks here, which features the most straight-forward death metal passage on the album yet still remains refreshing.
From here you start to notice the greatest addition to the duo’s sound; the use of melody that weaves its way into the serpentine riff work, appearing so suddenly that the genuine beauty is emphasised incredibly. Tracks such as ‘Lys’ embody this, the introduction features a more controlled drum passage whilst the high-end of the bass forms a rhythm I found completely hypnotising. Similarly, ‘Skein’ and the latter half of ‘Legion’ are intoxicatingly melodic; moments such as these are what keeps drawing me to this record.
The title track alternates the ideas yet again, by stripping the already very minimal instrumentation back even more to create a very sorrowful almost doom inspired moment. The pace is very quickly replenished, once again immersing the track in the husky roar of bass and drum flurries. ‘Dioscuri’ closes the record out, possibly the most atmospheric cut on the whole project, far slower paced and sorrowful in its approach featuring more decipherable riffs and McMaster’s vocals sounding at their most anguished. A damn near perfect way to emphasize the underlying sorrow and dissonance that the record portrays as a whole.
I could sit here and compare Geryon to other projects the members have orchestrated, but The Wound and the Bow makes me not want to. I am enamoured by this record and the form of metal that the duo is able to produce; Krallice can be relied on to create incredible pieces of technically charged black metal, yet I think Geryon stands on its own strengths as an entirely different entity on this album. It sounds completely ancient, as if the music was unearthed and then set to lay waste to the World and all you can do is watch as everything slowly crumbles. This is a stand out record of this year, but more importantly of metal as a whole. There’s no way I can portray what this record is without people fully immersing themselves within it, giving it their time and discovering the lasting effect of this winding, chaotic and twisted death metal celestial.
