Wednesday 19 October 2016

True Widow - AVVOLGERE (Album Review)


Release date: September 23rd 2016. Label: Relapse Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

AVVOLGERE – Tracklisting

1.Back Shredder 04:21
2.Theurgist 04:38
3.F. W. T. S. L. T. M. 05:15
4.The trapper and the trapped 05:14
5.O. O. T. P. V. 05:42
6.Entheogen 05:47
7.To all that he elong 01:55
8.Sante 03:52
9.Grey erasure 03:25
10.What finds me 06:00

Band Members:

DH Phillips (guitar/vocals)
Nicole Estill (bass/vocals)
Slim TX (drums).

Review:

True Widow not only build upon the momentum of their last release, 2013s Circumambulation with their immense new album Avvolgere, they go even further with their sound and vision on this project with the marrying of stoner rock and shoegaze hitting its peak on this record. The bands use of melody has been honed even more on this album and with the use of so many distorted, fuzzy and heavy riffs that are still aplenty throughout, it's a match made in heaven and the result is a joy to listen to.
That distorted melody is most evident on songs like the hypnotic, shoegaze vibes of F.W.T.S.L.T.M and album opener Back Shredder.
Avvolgere is packed full of memorable songs that are so well constructed and executed and there are so many quality riffs and catchy harmonies that they will take your breathe away. The atmosphere on the album is mostly downbeat but done so in such a triumphant fashion that you cannot help but revel in its almost bleak nature and it defintely turns into something inspiring, take a song like The Trapper And The Trapped for example. The song is a dizzying aural journey with the duel vocals of D.H Phillips and Nicole Estille wrapping around the song perfectly with the shimmering musical underbelly acting as a foil to the harmonies. Yes it may seem bleak but there is a beauty about it and that is prevalent through the albums duration.
O.O.T.P.V is the same, the melody is perfectly intact but there is a creeping darkness behind it that enhances the song. The vocals of both Phillips and Estille are fantastic all through the album and work so well over the varying range of the bands music, music that is equal parts mystical and psychedelic as well as straightforward and catchy.
The whole of Avvolgere feels like the soundtrack to a vivid dream from the start and is also extremely varied in its musical output without ever sounding disjointed, from the devastatingly powerful shoegaze of Theurgist to the mesmerising groove of Entheogen to the gentle but affecting To All That He Along to the brooding and powerful groove of Sante, it's never anything less than formidable and totally consumes your head.
As the albums closing track, the gorgeous What Finds Me draws to its hauntingly atmospheric conclusion, you will want to experience Avvolgere again in its entirety straight away and that is testament to the quality of music on show, True Widow have definitely raised the bar with this one, the album is a triumph.
Words by Gavin Brown

Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR for the promo. Avvolgere is available to buy via Relapse Records on CD/DD/Vinyl now.

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