Achenar
All Will Change (earthenrecords.com)
OK, so the ‘band’ name and the scenic Highland landscape here does sound like it’s going to be Runrig crossed with the Battlefield Band. So when the familiar guitar part seemingly kicks off the CD it’s obvious something is amiss. Indeed there is, it’s Dundee alt.rock Alamos who have oppped up on the iTunes player - must be an alphabetical thing.
The second surprise is what actually turns out to be the band and not say, something from Adadaat. ‘Origin’ is 2 minutes of screeching sawtooth sounds which if nothing else will startle any folkies drawn in by what I found.
It’s not that simple of course, we’re straight into ‘Survive Yourself’ which despite its atmospheric guitar work - closer to a post-rock Mark Knopfler - the film it might soundtrack is more likely to be Hostel remade by Peter Jackson and soundtracked by Lordi, with doomy vocals and portentous bass chords and crashing orchestral sweeps. ‘The Suicide of Giants’ is more electrical interference with death metal shouting and glitchcore hell; ‘Pocket Quantum’ all rainswept mellotrons and visions of the ascent of great peaks.
I’m not even sure that they claimed this was soundtrack music (checks press release… no…) but composer - yes, I think that’s fair - Duncan Hemingway - “doesn’t so much break genre boundaries, as ignore their existence altogether.” Certainly when you have the piano piece ‘Soujourn’ following the industrial noisecore of ‘Re-Enervate’ or get fooled by the lull in ‘Let Us Help You’ before the sudden but inevitable onslaught, you feel you’re at the rushes for a new Tarantino-curated Japanese horror season.
It’s my nature when reviewing to put a record on and skip a few tracks, just to get the feel you understand, then go back to the beginning. I’d recommend wading straight in to anything from Achenar. Draw the curtains, get a scotch (in fact, make that meths), and sit back and absorb in the music.
But don’t listen alone.
Bernhard Bessing
