(((O))) Review: Ingrina – Nåværende Lys

It is extremely difficult to write reviews when there is a word that feels like it would fit in line after line. With French quintet Ingrina that word is atmosphere. Every ounce of its material paints images, is saturated in colour and is endlessly entertaining. On Nåværende Lys the band has widened its palette with hints of post-punk melding into the walls of post-rock and post-metal. WIth each release Ignrina keeps making itself that bit more unique without altering its fingerprints and Nåværende Lys is another significant genre marker in an incredible back catalogue.

Opener ‘Time’ covers just about all of that introduction. It is littered with vocals which remain achingly haunting through singing and screaming, moments of double kick drum sounds from the dual drummers, guitars which mix between swooning and 80s alt tones and mist everywhere. It isn’t a suffocating noise it simmers in its threat to envelop but each instrument gets a turn at battering through it. At times there is a likeness to some of Year of No Lights work and also Latvian’s TESA, it’s a post-metal that never crunches as heavily as the big guns in the genre but has a sense of pace that drives the tracks when it chooses.

The injection of the post-punk feel to the tracks gives an added layer to the dusky haze and works really well with the driving rhythms of the drums. ‘Laws’ gives the biggest boost of the style with synths mixing with distant vocals and noir tinged guitar strums, elsewhere it is more integrated and never feels out of place. What makes On Nåværende Lys so irresistibly compulsive is the journey the tracks can take with the destination never being an obvious one from its outset. ‘Loosen’ begins with droning sounds with acoustic touches before transforming into a trotting doom laced force before rising and falling a in few more alterations before finally allowing the drums to lead the way with pounding and pummelling force.

Ingrina just keeps producing excellent albums of shapeshifting soundscapes. There are areas of darkness and equalling high points of soaring crescendo and release. Everything on Nåværende Lys is connected, beautifully executed and well worthy of the time of any post-metal fan.