Irresistibly inviting…
Review by Jason Guest
Release date: 31 March 2015
The band name being the Latin for Earth and the atmospheric, Cascadian landscapes painted by these three epic tracks, it’d be easy to dismiss the UK’s Terra as yet another Wolves In The Throne Room copyist. But to do so would be to dismiss an album worthy of much more attention than the usual cursory glance reserved for that ever-growing pile of bands.Three tracks between eleven and sixteen minutes, each of them a space of their own, the album is a universe that is simultaneously icily indifferent, boundlessly bewitching, and irresistibly inviting.
Shapeless in their hypnotic persistence, the tracks slowly metamorphose as they proceed, urging ever onward, reaching toward some undefinable and indefinite end. The role of the instruments blurs as the guitar and bass shift between rhythm, melody, and atmospherics while the drums provide a persistent propulsion that’s decorated with flourishes and fills that make the pieces thrive. And with the sparse vocals resonant with an ominously earthy anguish and despair to punctuate the amorphous and barren landscapes, this largely instrumental album becomes increasingly impenetrable and, curiously, increasingly expansive.
Because of its slowly evolving and revealing nature, this requires – and deserves – your undivided attention. There may be a few times where the tracks show a bit of strain – in ‘III’ in particular – but it’s their ability to maintain the balance between the unfathomable, the infinite and the immediate that makes Untitled a very impressive piece of work. With such a start to their musical career, what’s yet to come from Terra will no doubt be even better.
7.5 out of 10
Track Listing:
- I
- II
- III
