YLVAM E T A

Pelagic
17th November, 2017
ylva
7
Epic conceptual metal

If your first guess this band is a “post-something” then you win mountains of props, friend. Not that you need them, of course. Melbourne’s YLVA (pronounced ‘Ill-vAH’, Nordic for she-wolf) compose music for giants, it seems. Deliberate and not unlike the waves (ehhh?) Sting In The Air is a lesson in restraint and purpose; instruments move at glacial pace until exploding with force. Hunting Room needs a strained ear to absorb some of its feather-light passages, a 21st century schizoid throwback to the prog rock of old (King Crimson, duh.)

It gives the illusion of movement even though we’re standing still. We either know where we are or where we’re going; never both at the same time.

Droning bass anchors tracks like Fall, dominating the soundscape as guitars and drums battle for room to manoeuvre.  Bellows and screams signal out into the ether, much like the cries on Metadata, as if the band are trapped in forests of grey. The brushed abstract cover seems to reflect the mood of the album. It gives the illusion of movement even though we’re standing still. We either know where we are or where we’re going; never both at the same time. Metal seems too neat a category for what this album vibes. It’s heavy, yes. But more so in function than form.

The entire album is like a challenge – do you have the strength of ego to be taken on a journey, and trust where you’re led? M E T A is not an exercise in elevating one above the other, because we’re all so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Rather, it’s a comment on how confusing and messy reality can be.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Sting In The Air, Fall, Metadata
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Isis, Locrian, Cult of Luna



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