11PARANOIAS - Asterismal (Album Review)

Release date: March 15th 2019. Label: Ritual Productions. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Asterismal – Tracklisting

1.Loss Portal 08:16

2.Bloodless Crush 03:21

3.Vitrified Galaxy 06:32

4.Prelude 02:07

5.Slow Moon 09:07

6.Quantitative Immortalities 11:55

7.Chamber of Stars 06:14

Members

Adam Richardson (bass/vox)

Mike Vest (guitar)

Nathan Perrier (drums)

Review

Asterismal is the epic new album from Progressive Doom/Sludge Metallers 11PARANOIAS. This album is a very dense and heavy affair and I wouldn’t expect anything less from these guys. The album is a Space Rock odyssey though the band a nightmarish and surreal vision to their music. The music is constantly heavy and always evolving into a different style of Spaced Out Rock that only 11PARANOIAS could possibly make.

Asterismal runs for around seventy-two minutes and it’s epic as they come. The songs all have a deep meaningful sound and identity of their own. Each song sounds very different to each other. As the band play many different styles of Doom, Sludge and Psychedelic Metal. The whole feel of the album has an almost TRIBAL feel to it especially on songs such as: Loss Patrol, Bloodless Crush, Vitrified Galaxy, Slow Moon, Chamber Of Stars and the excellent two-part song of Acoustic Mirror.

If you’ve listened to previous albums by the band then you know what to expect. However, the band take a darker and slightly depressing turn on this album and it works wonders for their overall sound. Their music now has a more threatening purpose and the music becomes heavier as a result.

The vocals from Adam are superbly sung from the start. As they’re a mixture of clean chants, harsh growls and regular clean vocals. Though I do have an issue understanding what is being sung on certain parts of the album. It’s a good job that the music is brilliantly played and highly original in its own right. The heavy droned out sludgy guitars allows the band to have a more nuanced approach to their music.

Asterismal has a distinctive stop-start approach where the band could be playing an epic riff and they stop for a split second and decide to play a different style of music. For the most part this works in the bands favour. However, this style of music could be distracting to the more casual listener than a die-hard fan of the band. Asterismal is perhaps best suited to people who know what to expect from this great band.

Asterismal is a thrilling and very surreal album that delves right into the darkness of i 11PARANOIAS music. This is an album that you need to be in a certain frame of mind to fully appreciate and understand the whole meaning of the album. 11PARANOIAS have always been the type of band who are never afraid to experiment with their music and still make you want to experience more.

I may not fully understand the full themes and ideas of Asterismal yet but it’s going to be a great journey trying to figure this out for myself. Overall, Asterismal is a thought-provoking and complex album that ranks as one of the best albums the band have released yet.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency and Ritual Productions for the promo. Asterismal will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Ritual Productions from March 15^th 2019.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

11Paranoias - Reliquary for a Dreamed of World (Album Review)

Release date: October 28^th 2016. Label: Ritual Productions. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Reliquary for a Dreamed of World – Tracklisting

1.Peripheral Metamorphosis

2.Destroying Eyes

3.Avallanius

4.Mutus Liber

5.Meditation on the Void

6.Phantom Pyramid

7.Milk of Amnesia

Band Members:

Adam Richardson - Bass, Vocals

Mike Vest - Guitars

Nathan Perrier - Drums

Review:

11Paranoias return with full length, “Reliquary For A Dreamed Of World”, which is by no means a modest album. It is more the keeping of a procrastinated appointment with a voluntary, therapeutic treatment process through a heavy audible nightmare, experienced by the intelligent schizophrenic audiophile. This record augments and holds the listener with heavy eyelids shuddered down by the sound of bedlam, as your mind runs from reality into the album’s outstretched chords, which embrace beyond the mere cortical structure of auditory reason. The songs provide an overdose through a variety of noises, all with different tones and glowing resonances. The tunes are as follows…

Peripheral Metamorphosis - this track dangerously throbs along with the band’s own brand of distortion through nicely chosen amplifiers and slowly keeps time while nudging vocal pain forward through the crude atmospheric noise.

Destroying Eyes – this is essentially metal music created in a sewer by slimy “fishmen” who have been accidentally grown through an unexpected experiment in waste management. These guys moonlight with the underground utility company, speak to us in echolocation and once they snake the pipes, they pick things up as the sound drives without hindrances through a subterranean maze craze of crunch and commotion.

Avallaunius – in this track you will hear octaves from the ocean fathoms, showcasing a sea accident or maritime disaster with no identifiable injuries. Cymbals explode and guitars feed back their surplus power. Great stuff.

Mutus Liber – this song is constructed with sepulchral bass donations that fill an empty casket, alongside painful distorted guitar zooms, both amidst mudslide vocals, all accompanied by drums to make your earlobes quiver.

Mediation On The Void – It is time to take a psychedelic ride down the Floydian Fallopian tubes in order to witness the birth of besmirched meat on Iommi’s butcher block. The use of sonic effects are sheer perfection on this tune, advertising electric frenzy, manifested under hallucinogenic influence, forever increasing the strength of echoes, screams, whispers and unmitigated cybernetic madness. Lock the storage shed, turn the volume to 11 and go somewhat insane on your way to becoming a better person. This is a confident and choice favorite.

Phantom Pyramid is a track that was captured by the demented choir who provide the background music for your confession to a mummified priest who is stuffed with berries and oil, giving you your resultant penance as a doom loaded milkshake with a multi paranoid sound sprinkled topping. This is a splendidly made song and truly another clear favorite on this album.

Milk Of Amnesia is the most traditional song on the entire album. It is short and catchy, making it time to shake hands once again with Mr. Reality.

Overall this album is a magnificent musical concoction that trudges through one’s acoustical plumbing, removing the clogs of melodious blandness that have accumulated through the common drivel barraging our tune filled library.

This is a recorded shrine, made by masterful princes, through radiculopathic, doom trumpeted daffodils, that contains all the musical relics and strange thoughts dedicated to a sonic dream world of altered consciousness.

Words by Nick Palmisano

Thanks to Jack at Rarely Unable PR for the promo. Reliquary for a Dreamed of World will be available to buy via Ritual Productions on CD/DD/Vinyl from October 28^th 2016.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp