A captive and energetic sophomore album from the German Instrumental Metal trio - that’s Noise Raid’s Eclipse!
Three and a half year ago we wrote about Noise Raid´s debut album, Cosmic Radiation, praising it for its high energy. Now, on their sophomore album, they develop their music further, releasing an album with lots of unexpected swirls, twists, and turns. This makes for a captive experience as the musicians drive through the tracks with distorted and fuzzy heaviness, an undulating melodic bass upon relentless and varied beats.
We are always asked to pigeonhole the music, as are the musicians and distributors. With Noise Raid´s multi-faceted footing in the heavy and distorted realm, it is nearly impossible to define the genre. It’s as if they have created one for themselves, mixing Post-Metal and Post-Rock with some Post-Hardcore elements and a dash of fuzzy Stoner Metal sounds. And with this, the band hands out melodic themes drenched in powerful riffs and fuzzy, piercing solos, but also some tender and delicate sonics for breathers.
Two guitars are working their way through the album, sometimes alternatingly and sometimes dueling each other on each side of the relentless rhythm section. Thus, the music comes out as very intricate, but never chaotic. The twists and turns are always engaging. “Broken Arrow” is a perfect example of this as heavy guitars are expanding over the bass and beats. The dynamic between the guitars makes it utterly engaging as they riff along: Often on the same path, other times separating. Suddenly, they hold back, and the bass takes the driver´s seat, pushing the one guitar higher while the other holds the riffs intact. Even when the composition is as complex and textured as this, it manages to keep the energy and drive in the constantly changing musical flow that is utterly captivating. But of course they manage to catch your attention already in the opener “Hundred Miles High” which opens with repeating fuzzy riffs and heavy beats before the guitars begin to alternate from side to side, creating a dynamic whirlwind over the beats. The bass is undulating below the energetic guitars, and the rhythm is fast and relentless. Toward the end, the riffage widens out with guitars heaving and sinking before tightening again, and the pace increases even more with fast chugging before going heavier and heavier in the distorted fuzz with higher-pitched solos thrown in before an abrupt end.
They show their knack for delicate sonics on “Leucotomy” that contrasts the previous as it opens with strumming guitars, gliding sound effects at a relaxed pace. A soft guitar begins repeating a melodic theme and drifts forward. Slowly, the musicians develop the track into heavier realms. The pace increases, and there are subtle changes in the melodic theme until a higher-pitched solo guitar emerges from the murky heaviness with penetrating sounds seeping over the low-end bass and riffs, bringing the track to a heavy end.
Then comes another contrast in “Lahar” that opens with heavy riffs and rhythmic bursts that fuses into heavier riffage. Eventually, a hollow guitar begins to soar before the music turns back into the heavy, fast-paced music, with a fuzzy guitar that seems to be improvising as the music is driven forward. On “Hibernation”, there is some dark, slowly swirling ambient sound in the opening. Here, they conjure up real magic with clean guitars as the bass lays out a low-end foundation. When the complex riffs emerge, the track becomes utterly engaging as it is ushered by relentless rhythms and beats.
The album´s closer, “Staring Into The Infinity Of The Abyss”, is a mighty interesting one because there is a sense of Post-Rock sonics induced into the heavy melodies. After it opens with ambient sounds with a strumming guitar, another one begins to play with shivering sonics, and the musical flow slowly begins to rise with one clean and one distorted guitar. The pace is, compared to other tracks, fairly slow with a melodic bass underneath it all. Then the bass takes the lead with both guitars laying low on each side playing different lines. The music swells with heavy riffage and a high-pitched solo guitar sounding like a banjo soaring above the heavy base, ending the track and album.
With the unexpected twists, turns, swirls, fuzz, distortion, heavy bass, relentless rhythm – everything at high velocity, this is a real tour de force of an album from a band reaching (yet) another peak of their creativity.
