Adrift seems to be a common band name. This is the one from Spain. For me this was a case of a blank canvas as I’d not heard of them. The plus of that of course is that there are no pre-conceived ideas.
The canvas I found myself in front of, at least from the outset, was a post metal one. It’s punchy, and as the album developed, I sensed bucket-loads of attitude to go with it. This is a band who likes to explore soundscapes in a dynamic way. This album is in constant motion. After a strong opening, “The Soldier of My Words” bursts into an Opeth-style prog death passage, complete with impressive growls. The train stops momentarily for a few moments of doomy reflection, then returns again to the expansive world of “BlackwaterPark” or the Spanish equivalent of it. We’re now inside the machine as the monstrous title track imposes itself upon us. The musical warmongering is enhanced by a colourful guitar and drum line, and ferocious desperation from the vocalist. Very dark and heavy, there’s an old-fashioned aspect to the style. The parts are inferior to the whole, so it’s never self-indulgent, which is nice, and it flows. Then there’s a break and a sinister atmosphere develops. If it were live, I could imagine this music being punched imperiously through smoke and gloom.
Each track has its own character. “Wolves Searching Dams” no more follows a uniform pattern than any other, but advances in its darkly progressive and even avant-garde way. I thought the vocals could have been reduced a bit, as the instrumental work is so dynamic that it stands up for itself and makes the vocals incidental. The drum sound has a jazziness which contrasts with the metal juggernaut around it. Rules are not provided. “Waves” starts acoustically. Quieter moments are seamlessly inserted but in this case it’s a prelude to “Mallet Man”, which heads off with the most progressive riff so far. A harsh passage follows and then right on cue big chords and post metal ambiance return, making something already big even bigger. Again I imagined this live and mentally pictured the heads of the band members swaying to these lumbering chords. Yet it’s sprinkled with subtlety. Mellow chords, this time conjuring up a languid scene, start “Eric Zann Environment”. The dreamy sound contrasts with the pumping kaleidoscope we heard earlier and then to cap it off, the sound of a cello creeps in and completes the gloomy scene. “Normal” service then threatens as “Fury Roof” builds up a harsh picture. The sludgy progression has life and power, offset by ferocious vocals. There’s more than a hint of Cult of Luna about this, as it drags us poignantly through a dark scene. The following and final track “Long Nails” is similar but other than breaking out into another epic Opeth like passage at one point, was more noteworthy for its aimless noise than its pattern. Adrift can manage without patterns very well, but to compensate their tracks have had direction and purpose.
It’s a shame that the final track should lack the cohesion of the others but let’s see this as a whole. I regard Adrift as a welcome discovery. There are plenty of ideas here and they are executed in a unified fashion. I felt that there could have been further expansion into psychedelic territory, and the harsh vocals would have been more effective if used more sparingly. These minor observations apart, there’s no doubt that “Black Heart Bleeds Black” is an imaginative album which never stands still and succeeded in capturing my attention and interest.
(7.5 /10 Andrew Doherty)
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