I have enjoyed (if that is the right word) Irish band Altar Of Plagues since they first caught my attention, partly due to the music and also due to the mystery behind them. This is no mystery in the form of mask wearing anonymity or anything of that nature, the band do not hide behind cloaks and shadows (although it has been rather dark when I have seen them live) but it is more a case of what are they going to do next. Actually thinking that through it is also a case of what they are doing right now as their music is quite obtuse and impenetrable even when you are listening to it and really rather difficult to fathom out. Of course this is a good thing and creates a certain mystique about them one that the new album is not going to change in the slightest. Although I will say that this seems like their most defined and accomplished work to date the layers behind it are a multitude that really do need to be peeled back over a lot of time and listens before you will have any semblance of where they are coming from. The songs here are shorter and there are more of them, that is the first thing you will notice and if you have looked at the cover and seen the video doing the rounds the ideas of marrying their extreme sounds to a canvas of modern dance may make some sort of sense, then again….
What really impresses is the way that this sounds, it is as though the trio have done some sort of experimental work on the sonic delivery behind it all. Sounds basically appear to go up and down in the mix and the levels suddenly go from quiet to loud. The bass drum boom on opener ‘Mills’ really echoes amidst the electronic pulses and other strange keyboard sounds breathing first life into the album. That video track ‘God Alone’ suddenly blasts in after a quiet start and really hammers out the extremity as it twists and turns like the dancers in the clip. Johnny King’s drumming is really excellent and a blur as the guitars grind and seethe with wasp like stinging barbs. Over the top of it all the course rasp of the vocals rises to high screams and there are progressive choral parts and all sorts going on with those levels rising and falling in bewildering but fantastic peaks and troughs. Amidst all this the band manage to hone out a fantastic melodic thrust and the whole overall combined weight of it all does come at you as the title suggests in teethed glory causing massive injury. Doom laden electronics and thick bass take over for a while on ‘A Body Shrouded’ and although songs are defined there is never really any downing of tools on the album, no perceived break between movements as there is something constant to be heard even if it is just a buzz of static feedback.
This is a really unique sound, obviously it is comparable to the band of past but it is also different as well. The intensity of them live is something I have compared to Wolves In The Throne Room and yep that is here as well although not in musical structure or anything. I also thought of the likes of Akercocke and new Candlelight signees Voices but I think that is mainly down to the ferocity of the drumming in particular at times. We also could say that the experimental edge of Godflesh, Jesu, Jim Plotkin et al is a found amidst the depths here but honestly it is kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack. The album certainly isn’t all about outright aggression that are some moments that it is in a state of calm and others in coruscating flux and this can be in a single part like the longest number Twelve Is Ruin. The titles do really intrigue as does the overall ideas behind narrative but no clues were found in the minimal press details so we have only the music and our imagination to fascinate here.
I really like the gleaming twang of the almost Americana sounding guitar lines on ‘A Remedy Of Fever.’ It’s like an arid Western with the drums the sound of the outlaws riding into town. If that’s the case the showdown is suitably brutal. There are many moods and emotions taking form here and it is a journey of sorts in a fantastical land which is really rather alien due to the contrast of ideas and that electronic bristle that often surges into life. Another part that really sticks out is the industrialised chugging tumult of ‘Found Oval And Final’ with a rough tribal beat and Neurosian sounding vocal bite. Last part ‘Reflection Pulse Remains’ is a giddy dash which clamours with a contusion of acerbic and aggressive sounds that all combine together into a miasma of disparate parts that somehow manage to gel together making the listeners head spin in bafflement of it all.
It is also worth mentioning that this sounds absolutely fantastic even listening to it on computer speakers via download. The effect of it through a decent stereo system must be something else and this definitely needs exploring. Considering the complexity and the overall precision of it, the depth of ideas and my enjoyment of the album as a whole the mark given is completely justified.
(9/10 Pete Woods)
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