Release Date: September 15th 2023. Record Label: Human Worth. Formats: DD/Vinyl
Abscission - Tracklisting
1.Interior Gestures 10:46
2.As Shadow Follows Body 09:20
3.Accidie 06:16
4.Carbon 03:32
5.Island of Abandonment 10:59
Members
Jon Taylor - Guitar and vocals
Lauren Mason - Bass, Rhodes and vocals
Simon Mason - Drums, electronics and vocals
Review:
Abscission is the new album from Doom/Sludge/Post-Metal collective TORPOR and sees the band offer a combination of pitch black melodies, soaring grooves and harsh vocals that are held together by a layer of Post-Metal nihilism. TORPOR have always continued to evolve with every release they’ve created and Abscission is no different with some of their best creative output on this album alone. The record dives right into the Psyche of Progressive Sludge Metal that a first rate Post-Metal band should do with TORPOR playing similar grooves and sounds of bands such as ISIS and Cult Of Luna but with a more ferocious sound.
Opening song Interior Gestures combines Blackened Doom atmospherics with Ambient Post-Rock textures that move into the Sludge/Post-Metal arena with lead vocalist Jon Taylor’s brutal style being open and honest with a more threatening presence that is quite easy to fully understand which gives the song a more uncompromising feel. Ambient and Psychedelic instrumental parts lead the way on the later stages of the track with Lauren’s ghostly voiceover giving a more Gothic and Post-Doom vibe to the song.
Second song As Shadow Follows Body is another mind-expanding Post-Metal epic running past the nine minute mark. Distorted sounds slowly change into nightmarish Droned Out elements with TORPOR bringing that Pitch-Black mentality to their music which feels like a never ending sense of DREAD and DESPAIR. The music sees TORPOR play a more extreme style of Post-Metal but there’s still a sense of DREAMLIKE quality to their music with the trippy Psychedelic parts that appear beneath the band’s blend of heavy and downtrodden Sludge Metal. The vocals are exquisite yet again with the different styles of harsh growls and clean vocals that appear occasionally. TORPOR starts changing the melodic tone and direction of their music with more soulful styles of Post-Rock appearing for a more Atmospheric feeling. The later stages are more violent, fast-paced and wonderfully chaotic with that aggressive metallic sound allowing TORPOR to play some of the heaviest and most technically impressive sounds on the album.
Third song Accidie opens with an Industrial sound that wouldn’t go amiss from an Author & Punisher album. This song is quite clinical with its delivery which is down to the Industrial Rock/Metal creative approach to the song. TORPOR still retains that Sludge/Post-Metal sound but everything else is given a more Doomed Out makeover that feels orchestrated by NIN in places. The world-weary Psychedelic grooves are more Doom/Post-Rock driven with some of my favourite instrumental parts of the album held within song. The vocals are more extreme but the overlapping of distorted instrumental sounds allows TORPOR to play one of the standout tracks on the album especially when the song takes a more multi-layered approach with that punishing bass driven sound.
Fourth song is an Ambient/Drone/Industrial based song with frantic and down-tuned guitars being more of the Crust Punk world with its eerie style of Industrial breakdowns and mechanically delivered grooves. With a foreboding sense of Doom that’s made possible by the use of sonically driven Synths that feels like having a bad ACID TRIP listening to 90’s Digital Hardcore. One of the most nightmarish and uncompromising tracks held on the album which is made even better by the short running time of the track.
The final track Island Of Abandonment is where TORPOR lays everything on the line with a more theatrical song which moves slowly at its own gloomy Post-Doom beat. The subtle flashes of Psych and Ambient sounds hints at a more violent sonic experience heading our way. TORPOR use that multilayered style of Blackened Doom with a thrilling Industrial edge yet again which leaves the Sludge Metal and Post-Metal aspects of their music to slowly gain traction and ultimately complete dominance of where the song fully ends up becoming. The Black Metal aspect of this track is what makes this to become one of the heaviest songs that TORPOR have released to date with incredible drumming by Simon who is also responsible for the first rate ELECTRONIC parts of the album.
Abscission is one of the most technically impressive and forward thinking releases of the UK Sludge Metal/Post-Metal scene I’ve heard in quite some time. The album has a bleak sounding MONOLITHIC tone that is very hard to ignore that should elevate TORPOR to higher levels within the global Doom, Sludge and Post-Metal scenes.
Simply unmissable. End of.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Frenchie PR Trail for the promo.
Abscission is available to buy on DD/Vinyl via Human Worth from September 15th 2023.
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