Near the end of this past summer we had the pleasure of premiering (and reviewing at length) a fantastic new album named For the Good of the Realm by the Idaho metal band Weald and Woe, whose medieval-inspired music brought to mind the likes of Obsequiae, Véhémence, Darkenhöld, Immortal, and Ensiferum.
Two of the members of Weald and Woe (Brent Ruddy and Isiah Fletcher) are also members (along with Ted Clements) of a very different band named Aterrima, and they too will be releasing an album this year — in just a few days — via the same Fiadh Productions that helped usher For the Good of the Realm into the world.
Aterrima‘s first full-length is entitled A Name Engraved in Cold Soil, and we have a full stream of it for you today.
Here’s how Fiadh introduces this new work by Aterrima (which was preceded by the band’s The Killing Light EP in 2022):
Founded in 2017 and drawing influence from the likes of Gorguts to Coltrane to George Crumb to Ulver, Aterrima seeks to provide honest commentary on the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
The Boise, Idaho-based 3-piece uses storytelling and extreme metal to explore the feelings of reverence and inspiration that nature can provide, as well as the bitter acceptance of bleak realities about the natural world. This manifests in a fraught musical experience, as passages of calculated chaos, cerebral eccentricity and consonant serenity intertwine to create Aterrima’s distinctive sound.
If you’re like this writer, those musical references in the first paragraph above might get you scratching your head, wondering how this is all going to work, or if it’s going to work at all. The good news is that it works extremely well, even if the how of it is almost imnposisble to predict.
As you follow the album around its many unexpected twists and turns, certain through-lines do emerge. The moods for example, tend to be dark, though diverse, as the music translates feelings of confusion, delirium, fury, and moodiness — though it must be said that there’s exultation in the madness, and sultry pleasures as well.
Other through-lines also emerge. The compositions are almost always head-spinning in their intricacy and off-the-wall inventiveness, and the instrumental performances are technically off the charts — and they would have to be to execute the kind of mind-boggling permutations encompassed by such songs as “Virga“.
In that song tempos change on a dime. Dissonance happily co-exists with harmony. Delirious fretwork freakouts trade places with sinister sizzling tones. The drumming rumbles or riots one moment and puts you back on a steady path the next. Sometimes the bass sounds like it’s tunneling through bedrock, other times like it’s gleefully humming. Without warning or any other expectation, the music diverts into a noirish and ultimately exhilarating jazz instrumental in its final phase.
In that song, as elsewhere, the vocals prove to be just as multi-faceted as the instrumental extravagances, ranging from abyssal growls to strangled snarls, hair-raising screams, and ardent choral singing.
One might be tempted to give “Virga” the label of “avant-garde technical black/death metal”, but the song’s prog and jazz components are so significant that maybe even that long run-on label isn’t expansive enough.
The other songs are no easier to sum up in genre terms. They continue to display remarkable song-writing intricacy and the kind of technical flourishes that would make most tech-death bands very jealous.
They continue to integrate jazz from varying traditions (sometimes as distinct “you can catch your breath here” interludes but also as integral components of full-throttle mind-benders), as well as lots of elements from prog-rock and prog-metal, elaborating them with a wide range of tones and techniques. They also continue to whipsaw listeners with wildly veering vocals and bursts of pure scathing and jackhammering savagery.
Somehow, Aterrima also find ways to embed these extraordinary musical whirligigs with hooks that get stuck in a listener’s head. Here and there, they also manage to sound brutish and hulking, and you can dream some during the moody and mystical first half of album closer “Emulsion“, before it gets more harrowing.
People get something out of comparisons of a lesser-known band’s music to that of better-known bands. This writer happens to be very insecure about doing that, but maybe mentions of Atheist, Cynic, Virus, Gorguts, Death (at its most experimental), Obscura, Arcturus, King Crimson, and Rush would be helpful? Or not.
Oh hell, just take some deep breaths and listen to this:
ATERRIMA is:
Isiah Fletcher: Drums
Ted Clements: Bass, Vocals
Brent Ruddy: Guitar, Vocals
The album was recorded with Eric Playstead at The Chop Shop, and it was mixed and mastered by the masterful Stefano Morabito at 16th Cellar Studio in Rome. Credit for the cover art goes to Andrew Ryason.
The album is set for release on December 8th, and it’s available digitally from the band and on cassette tape from Fiadh.
ORDER:
https://fiadh.bandcamp.com/album/a-name-engraved-in-cold-soil
https://aterrima.bandcamp.com/album/a-name-engraved-in-cold-soil
FOLLOW ATERRIMA:
https://www.facebook.com/Aterrimaboise
https://www.instagram.com/weareaterrima/