A bold up-to-date release of the last chapter of the French band Ingrina´s Lys trilogy that began in 2018, continued in 2020 and is concluded in 2026.
Bold because of the orchestration of the three guitars, drums, and bass using elements of many metal-related genres, and thus disabling any chance to put the engaging, often discordant, music into a genre box. Not as if that were important, but it helps guide oneself and others into the multifaceted music that is Ingrina´s trademark through these releases. Up-to-date because the music on the album has a raw urgency, illustrating the sense of crumbling structures around us.
Ingrina´s music has always been based on a mix of Post-Metal and Post-Hardcore, seeped in other genres. It begins with the first track, ”Time”, that opens with uncanny Dark Ambient sounds before an avalanche of distorted guitars, rumbling drums, and bass rolls downhill, while the uncanny, dissonant, and dark sounds penetrate the distorted heaviness. The sound effects take over as relentless and complex drumming makes it utterly intense in its dissonance. This mix of Dark Ambient, Doomgaze, Post-Hardcore and Industrial Metal with the thundering heaviness of Post Metal makes this an utterly engaging listen throughout the album. The first track ends with on a dim and smokey note like a terrain of heavy industrial environment, or as the lyric sheet says: “A mist of melting time loops seeped through the walls. ”.
Here we are at another intriguing feat with Ingrina´s music: the vocals. Albeit not vocals in the traditional sense. If you do not know that there are vocals on the album, you probably will not notice them at first listen. Maybe not at second or third either. You might think they are some kind of synth or electronics. But all the band members add vocals to the music, they vocalize more than sing. The voices are barely heard, immersed in the multifaceted music, singing indistinct words that can only be understood from the enclosed lyric sheet. Somewhat telling is the end of the story the band began on the first album. There are a lot of interesting things about this to be found on their website.
Back to the musical feats. The album continues with ”Out” whose rhythm is hard and fast, the bass throbbing at the bottom while the music flows around in a whirlwind until it pans out. Voices are heard in the distance before the musical flow fuses back into the tightness again. It is melodic and dissonant at the same time. Distant, clear voices are heard in the mix as distorted guitar riffs and spiraling sounds emerge. Underneath it all, the bass plays a melodic theme. Guitars swirl around each other with dissonant sounds. The music is layered and complex until it ends in a floating, tender sound, reflecting the lyrics: “The outside became a real shelter, while previous prisons dissolved into trembling ash. The fires got every breathing thing out, for good.”
A tender acoustic guitar opens ”Loosen” with fading distant sounds and delicate timbres from many guitars before sounds like helicopter rotors disturb the comfortable flow. The music becomes very heavy and dissonant, higher-pitched guitars break loose until a pause with distant sounds, but it soon melts back into discordant sonics. The track shifts between heavy beating parts and open soundscapes with distant voices and sound effects, but with a throbbing rhythm section reaching blast speed until it pans out in the end. In the mix of sounds, there are vocalizations with words ending like this: “As they uncovered the deep inconsistency of past knowledge and the profound lack of anchorage of usual meanings, a disenchanted kind of leisure took over decency.”
Light Ambient sounds open ”Grips” diving into a tight bass-ladden part, with guitars on each side until swelling into somewhat chaotic sonics with a multitude of voices. The music constantly shifts from rhythmic to breathers with sound effects. There is a slow surge into a dense and distorted soundscape with some higher pitched sounds in the background. Through the swell, the complex music becomes a multifaceted wall of discordant, but melodic sounds, reflecting the lyrics: “Causality vaporized as nothing had consequence. Logic had no grip. Reason no longer belonged to this world.”
An intriguing musical detour happens on ”Laws” when it opens with throbbing sounds and clear guitar, then overtaken by what seems like synth-beats: We are brought into an electronic field which, in a way, breaks with the sound of the previous tracks. Around those beats, sounds float and become stronger with distant voices sending out indistinct words. The guitars melt with soaring sounds that might be the mix of sound effects from the guitars and voices. There is a pause where the music pans out, and sounds flow like dim fog as the music dissolves, “Ties got loose, framed times got lost.”
”And All The Deadly Frontiers” ends the album in a triumphant way. At the base there is the rhythm section with soaring, discordant musical effects. It loses its melodical topoi, but soon regains them with fast-paced rhythm and voices soaring above. It dives deeper before panning out again with distant and discordant guitars and sounds and translucent voices in the mix. The music becomes slow, it seems unsure if this is the end, hesitating and slowly crumbling in on itself with evolving distorted sounds; “After ages of crushing and ruling movement, superstructures had no choice but to flee.”
This album is a true tour de force that took the band four years to make. As a Norwegian, I first noticed the band in 2018 because of the Norwegian title on the first album of the trilogy, Etter Lys (After Light) - I thought it was a Norwegian band. But it was French. In 2020 came Siste Lys (Last Light), also a Norwegian title. And now Nåværende Lys (Current Light). I have not managed to find out why the Norwegian titles, but that is for another day. Enjoy the immaculate discordant music by Ingrina while I wonder about this.
