Its records like this that make this whole album reviewing business feel worthwhile.
Seemingly coming out of nowhere and promising big things, it is hugely refreshing to find that – for once – the label hyperbole regarding an album is pretty much- spot on. “Dense and massive,” they say “marrying telluric riffs and pure magnificence, this miraculous record is an intense listening experience. Immense, ethereal, colossal and yet deeply emotional all at once.” OK, so ‘miraculous’ might be stretching it a little but really, I couldn’t have put it much better myself. Make no bones about it – Hyperion means serious business.
This French five-piece have been around in one form or another since 1994 and this being their six full-length, there’s some considerable experience under the hood here. It’s clear that Dirge’s brand of punishing, billowing post-metal has been honed across the years to culminate in the distinctive tones heard across this album’s 60-minute duration. Neurosis are obviously the key influence here but the Frenchmen take that template of raw emotion delivered with punishing intensity and add their own stamp of otherworldly, soaring ambience.
‘Circumpolaris’ gets the ball rolling with weighty riffs, howled vocals and monolithic percussion but it’s the more delicate touches that truly elevate the song. Dirge’s developed sense of down-tuned crushing – rather than being the be-all and end-all as it is for many bands of this ilk – is instead used as a launchpad to reach into the stratosphere. The spiralling solo (that reeks of Gothic-era Paradise Lost) is when things really take off, the song continuing to build and reach ever higher.
This theme is continued on ‘Floes’, possibly the most affecting piece on the record. The sinuous guitar lines intertwine over ethereal synths, the intoxicating blend of pounding riffage and reflective despondency at its most potent here. The hypnotic mid-section which overplays a grinding guitar motif against a shifting backdrop of ever-denser atmospherics is truly sublime. It’s intoxicating it’s so good – one of those moments that stops you in your tracks when you first hear it and DEMANDS your full attention.
And so it continues. ‘Venus Claws’ brings some female vocals courtesy of Lycia’s Tara Vanflower into the mix, adding a remarkable sense of texture leading to a glittering finale whilst ‘Hyperion under Glass’ incorporates sparse passages of clean guitar in amongst some more discordant, grinding chord work. In this, it’s eerily reminiscent of Blut aus Nord’s ‘777’ trilogy – a marriage of mechanical power, sinister discordance and abyssal despond. ‘Filigree’ draws all of these components together – it’s at once crushing and affecting, heavy as a megalodon yet boasting an airy melancholia that seems to hover above the churning power as the track lurches to a synth-soaked conclusion draped with more of those Paradise Lost-styled leads.
Final track ‘Remanentie’ meanwhile is more or less an extended instrumental coda – two riffs stretched out over sixteen minutes, a musical mantra that eventually fades out into a tapestry of samples and reverberating atmospherics. A fitting end to an immersive, expansive journey.
There’s little to fault on this record – stylistically, Dirge have nailed this. Their blend of dynamics is masterful and their ability to etch a compelling musical escalation frighteningly potent. Frontman Marc T and his troops have forged an excellent album here and even at this early stage, the bar for 2014 has been set.
( 9/10 Frank Allain)
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