Istok is a place “of great nothingness where you find peace”, while the album is the journey to get there. This is the Russian trio’s fourth album release.
Dreamy “celestial blackgaze”, post black-metal …. whatever the description may be, it’s about the sounds and the atmospheres that TRNA create. To begin with, the title track imposes itself with its lofty aura. The drum beats patiently, as that celestial blackgaze manifests itself and its magnificence. The scene is set. A quieter melancholic passage ensues before an imperious slab of post-blackness becomes dominant. It’s a big, heavy and lingering soundscape. “Echoes of the Past” is more explosive but still with that emotive blackgaze vibe. The “T” in TRNA does not stand for trivial. This is weighty. “Echoes of the Past” transforms from blast-beating fury to slow and deliberate melancholy, lingering to make us reflect rather than get excited. The ferociously black “Shining” does have excitement, combining fierce vocals and lofty instrumentals before reverting to quieter dreaminess. The quiet is shattered explosively and the scene we find ourselves in borders on chaos and violence, but with the constancy of the post metal ring. This gives way to haunting reflective melancholy, building up the storm patiently and epically. As a bonus on this hour- long album, there’s an instrumental version of “Shining”. I wasn’t initially sure of the point of that but will concede that without the vocals it portrays life and energy more clearly and atmospherically through the post rock/metal style, and in fact was more invigorating and vivid than it is with the encumbrance of a harsh human voice.
So big is each piece that the album fills the brain. Quieter passages have tingling tension but are replaced in any case by blasts of enormity. This is just what happens on “Burning Bridges, Shattered Dreams”, a piece noteworthy for not only the customary expanse and violence, but also the contemptuous black metal instrumental work. A weighty but uniform soundscape develops, and this is one thing that I don’t entirely like about this album, namely that passages hang around and envelop us but do not poke or prod or stimulate other than through the enormity of the occasion and its associated sound. Such is the nature of shoegaze, I suppose. One enormous piece follows another. Next up is “Hearts Turn to Stone”. Again it is imposing but by now familiar as the Russian winds roar through the landscape. By way of contrast “Rebirth” starts brightly and breezily as if the wind is blowing through TRNA’s post rock veins. It’s a refreshing change, but it doesn’t last long as a ferocious roar and a storm of heaviness sweep through the landscape. The storm takes a while to subside but TRNA skilfully continue to send swathes of epic atmosphere through it.
There’s no shortage of intensity here. TRNA specialise in epic soundscapes on “Istok”. It can be stormy and calm. Sometimes we stand in the middle of the storm just taking it all in, while at other times I felt I was on the journey to Istok, that place of great nothingness.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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