(Note: in all likelihood, these reviews will become longer. This one and the one before it are both prewritten, but I'm starting the Cloud Nothings review tonight and will work on the review a good deal, probably in a more track-by-track fashion, before I release it.)
Unortheta (2016), Zhrine
Blackened death metal band Zhrine formed in Iceland in 2007, under the moniker Gone Postal. Having released several demo tapes and one full-length album, In the Depths of Despair, they changed their name, first to Shrine in 2014, then to Zhrine one year later. Their debut as Zhrine, Unortheta, arrived in 2016 to a handful of good reviews.
Here's a great one.
Unortheta opens with “Utopian Warfare,” which runs the gamut of Zhrine’s peculiar sound: slow, sparse instrumentals alternating with loud, distorted chords, violent drumming, and despairing growls. From the very start, Zhrine establish an atmosphere of gloom, desolation, and bitter cold; this atmosphere absorbs listeners and simply doesn’t let go. The next track, “Spewing Gloom,” has as fitting a name as it gets—its thick dissonance, coupled with its demented shrieking and brutally sludgy slowdown, gives the impression of pitch-black storm clouds crawling through the sky. Meanwhile, the lead guitar effects a half-graceful, half-lurching dance atop the noise.
The rest of the album is chock-full of alternated shrieks and growls, manifold breakdowns followed by explosive barrages of sound, and eerie instrumental sections, which function as perfect interludes to the deliberate chaos. Zhrine pool together the angular hooks of Gorguts, the grand chord progressions of Deafheaven, and the evolving structures of Isis to craft something so beautifully idiosyncratic it defies classification. I won’t spoil the final, title track, which is also the shortest, but I can say this: what Zhrine know how to start, they also know how to end.
Final rating: 6/7 (Excellent).