Release
date: December
06th
2019 (Digital) / January 31st
2020 (Vinyl).
Label: Cursed
Tongue
Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Istanah
–
Tracklisting
1.
Bloodsucker
2.
1966
3.
Full Moon
4.
Shapeless
5.
Spider Walk With Me
6.
Pluto
Members
Muhd
Azri – bass guitar
Nicholas
Wong – drums and vocals
Rasyid
Juraimi – guitar and vocals
Nicholas
Ng – guitar and vocals
Review
My
favourite Singaporean hoodlums, Marijannah, are back with the
follow-up to their excellent debut, ‘Till Marijannah’. The new
wax, entitled ‘Istanah’, is equally great in all aspects as its
predecessor, any way you look at it. Even better, Marijannah are not
playing it safe. It still sounds like them but a really nice strong
twist, akin to Mars Red Sky, has been added and this turned out
perfect. They have also gotten heavier and trippier on top of this,
so naturally, ‘Istanah’ is absolutely brilliant!
Opener
‘Bloodsucker’, also the first single off of ‘Istanah’,
epitomises the entire album and the change Marijannah has gone
through. It explodes out of the gates being almost Death Metal…for
about 75 seconds. Then the band settle in with the Mars Red Sky vibes
which flows so eloquently through the songs from then on, you know
what I’m talking about. Stoner rock and trippiness. Although
‘Bloodsucker’ retain more of the new-found heaviness, just listen
to those riffs and the solos, man. And that earth-shattering middle
section. Fantastic! ‘1966’, the second single of the album
follows keeping the pace a touch slower with elegant hints towards
the old Palm Springs scene. All while hypnotising and mesmerising the
listener. The music envelops you immediately and doesn’t let go
until you are cleansed and reinvigorated. Beautiful, indeed. ‘Full
Moon’ is by and far the shortest song Marijannah has ever released.
At 1.38 with only a minimalistic yet disturbing music background,
this brief composition hits all the emotions there is.
‘Shapeless’
really brings the stoner metal mixed with doom. Slow, menacing, heavy
and trippy it simply crushes anything in its way. It is one of those
amazing songs where you can lose yourself, as long as you want to and
you should, trust me! ‘Spider Walk With Me’ opens up in full punk
mode before switching to something akin to Voivod playing stoner.
This weaves back and forth until they drop in tempo and goes into a
spaced out trippy mode. Kind of claustrophobic and disturbing but in
the best possible way because music shouldn’t always be easy. It
should be challenging at times and keep you, the listener, on your
toes. And that’s what ‘Spider Walk With Me’ does. ‘Pluto’
is the last song out and it starts out kind of like its predecessor.
Full of slow, lurking doom and stoner rock which turns into a space
journey through exploding super novas during the solos. Marijannah
definitely takes you somewhere new and uncharted and I am absorbing
and loving every little bit of it!
Marijannah
blew me away with their debut especially because the music was great
but also since I knew nothing of them back in 2018. And I love it
when unknown bands through me of my foundations. Again, they kind of
surprised me because I didn’t know the sophomore record was in the
making. As with the debut, the new wax, ‘Istanah’ simply clears
the playing field letting Marijannah dominate and take control. And
that’s how it should be. These guys are fantastic and deserve so
much recognition, so don’t miss out people. Watch out for the
Singaporean juggernaut!
Words
by Håkan Nyman
Thanks
to Niels at Cursed Tongue Records for the promo.
Istanah
is available to buy digitally now. The vinyl will be available to buy
from January
31st
2019 via Cursed Tongue Records.
Links: