Somebody has the guts to take my precious Metal and dip it into cauldron of different subcultures that have a bad track record in doing so?
Yes, the Metal scene is very much like Gollum. But if you were to take all those bias tendencies and open up your mind a little, you would find this record is amazing. After all, would you have found Metal if your mind was weld shut in the first place?
Obligatory forest photo. You need them for proper TrvepointsTM . For KvltpointsTM, get a Candelabra and xerox your photos 10X instead.
Cara Neir is band that is really hard to pigeonhole a genre onto. Aptly, enough, the band stays away from cornering themselves into one by just calling their music "Experimental Black Metal" if that makes sense to you. The band refuses to stay into the norm set by musicians of yesteryears and changes their sound from one record to another.
Their 1st album has a Post-Rock/Doom Metal/Black Metal mix while their EP right after this album I am reviewing plays Black Metal that has strong Post-Hardcore influence, and has Sludgy moments, all rolled into one short Grindcore-length micro-song. (It's called The Overwatch and you can buy it here)
So this album takes a different route and decided to go for a crossover appeal. To say that this is merely a Skramz influenced Black Metal album is an oversimplification. This is more than that.
The way this album starts isn't exactly how you would imagine a Metal album should. The first few notes could easily get a Metalhead question whether they got the wrong record. The distortion was light, and the chords were more in an uplifting manner, rather than the usual bitter sounds of a frostbitten Black Metal band.
Now from those words, the first thing that many would imagine is the band Deafheaven, that has combined Shoegaze, Skramz, Post-Hardcore and Black Metal into polarizing effects. Where Deafhaven sounds like a bunch of Shoegazers trying to play Black Metal, Cara Neir sounds more like a Black Metal band trying to play Skramz.
It's like an immigrant who settles into another country and learn their language, no matter how well they know their grammar or phrases, there would be a sense of discordance while they speak in those first few years. They retain their accent, and remain distinct in the community.
If Deafheaven was a Shoegaze immigrant who planted their flag into Black Metal country, Cara Neir sounds like a Black Metal band who has a PR status in Skramz country. Even in the vocals show the difference between the "accents."
The vocal style from the Punk spectrum, when they try to scream in their more metallic genres, has a degree of melody that is still in the throat, not allowing a full shriek to occur. Cara Neir does the opposite by trying to add melody in that shriek but mostly retaining a harsh vocal sound in their throat.
It is exactly how you are not sure whether the album cover belongs to a Skramz band or not as the leanings are much more closer to Metal instead. Now the PR status may conjure images of that person returning to his homeland once in a while, despite adopting a new home. Well, that is what happens in this record.
Every time the guitars decideds to take a break from the blasting and the well programmed drums, enter a drum transition, the distortion gets heavier and the tremolo becomes more of a common feature. By the time the track Red Moon Foreboding rolls in, the Skramz is kept to a minimum.
Now even though the tracks becomes "Blackened" as many journalists may say, this album is not influenced by the Marduk branch of Black Metal but more like the artsy side of it, like Ulver or even Enslaved. As if being foreshadowed by the record title, the music does go to darker pastures. In fact, towards the 2nd half of the record, instead of having the vocals being shriek over,
Death Metal-esque low growls take the center stage while also showing off the vocal range of vocalist Chris Francis. The last track, 3380 Pounds, carries on a Doom-laden vibe, and at times teasing you with sounds that could easily accompany the more Doom influenced Agalloch songs. At points, the guitar starts to drift to folk influenced riffs that you would associate more with the more melodic Scandinavian bands instead.
The artsy side of Punk has not only influenced their music. Their lyric-writing, takes into a pseudo-philosophical approach, filtered through the eyes of life in the suburbs.
I have to admit, most of the lyrics here has a very poetic-sounding touch, that can only be written if someone were exposed to modern depressive poetry that at times can make no sense at all. Below is taken from the track Forlorn Love (even this sounds like a cheesy Skramz title)
Now from those words, the first thing that many would imagine is the band Deafheaven, that has combined Shoegaze, Skramz, Post-Hardcore and Black Metal into polarizing effects. Where Deafhaven sounds like a bunch of Shoegazers trying to play Black Metal, Cara Neir sounds more like a Black Metal band trying to play Skramz.
It's like an immigrant who settles into another country and learn their language, no matter how well they know their grammar or phrases, there would be a sense of discordance while they speak in those first few years. They retain their accent, and remain distinct in the community.
If Deafheaven was a Shoegaze immigrant who planted their flag into Black Metal country, Cara Neir sounds like a Black Metal band who has a PR status in Skramz country. Even in the vocals show the difference between the "accents."
The vocal style from the Punk spectrum, when they try to scream in their more metallic genres, has a degree of melody that is still in the throat, not allowing a full shriek to occur. Cara Neir does the opposite by trying to add melody in that shriek but mostly retaining a harsh vocal sound in their throat.
It is exactly how you are not sure whether the album cover belongs to a Skramz band or not as the leanings are much more closer to Metal instead. Now the PR status may conjure images of that person returning to his homeland once in a while, despite adopting a new home. Well, that is what happens in this record.
Every time the guitars decideds to take a break from the blasting and the well programmed drums, enter a drum transition, the distortion gets heavier and the tremolo becomes more of a common feature. By the time the track Red Moon Foreboding rolls in, the Skramz is kept to a minimum.
Now even though the tracks becomes "Blackened" as many journalists may say, this album is not influenced by the Marduk branch of Black Metal but more like the artsy side of it, like Ulver or even Enslaved. As if being foreshadowed by the record title, the music does go to darker pastures. In fact, towards the 2nd half of the record, instead of having the vocals being shriek over,
Death Metal-esque low growls take the center stage while also showing off the vocal range of vocalist Chris Francis. The last track, 3380 Pounds, carries on a Doom-laden vibe, and at times teasing you with sounds that could easily accompany the more Doom influenced Agalloch songs. At points, the guitar starts to drift to folk influenced riffs that you would associate more with the more melodic Scandinavian bands instead.
The artsy side of Punk has not only influenced their music. Their lyric-writing, takes into a pseudo-philosophical approach, filtered through the eyes of life in the suburbs.
I have to admit, most of the lyrics here has a very poetic-sounding touch, that can only be written if someone were exposed to modern depressive poetry that at times can make no sense at all. Below is taken from the track Forlorn Love (even this sounds like a cheesy Skramz title)
The stupid cupids grant your wish and summon sister's laws and cheat your way in
Henry murdered Karen and the spoiled son too, he knew this spider had spun a past vile
The band may have something hidden under it, but I'm not getting the message here. Now older, Skramz bands also have the same philosophical approach but I'm am not well versed in it so whatever references that have made here, goes over my head.
To wrap it all up, while if you were to allow your Black Metal to gain a bit of influence from here and there, you might enjoy it. I definitely do, but I have a wider range of music than the average person has. A regular Black Metal fan who wants to keep it pure, as I can imagine will definitely hate it.
In fact, I would call this Deafheaven without the the Post-Rock parts that come off as pretentious and has well avoided the constant blasting, and allow the drummer (or in the case the computer drums) to go the Amebix route, and drum like a Crust band instead.
This is a rough experimentation on the crossover appeal to the artsier side of Punk and from the artsier side of Black Metal. It's Circle Takes the Square blended with early Ulver. One day, when this genre becomes an established trope, I'm sure many would trace back roots to this album.
To wrap it all up, while if you were to allow your Black Metal to gain a bit of influence from here and there, you might enjoy it. I definitely do, but I have a wider range of music than the average person has. A regular Black Metal fan who wants to keep it pure, as I can imagine will definitely hate it.
In fact, I would call this Deafheaven without the the Post-Rock parts that come off as pretentious and has well avoided the constant blasting, and allow the drummer (or in the case the computer drums) to go the Amebix route, and drum like a Crust band instead.
This is a rough experimentation on the crossover appeal to the artsier side of Punk and from the artsier side of Black Metal. It's Circle Takes the Square blended with early Ulver. One day, when this genre becomes an established trope, I'm sure many would trace back roots to this album.
PS/ I enjoyed this more than Sunbather. Come get me hipsters.
PS2/ I used the term Skramz instead of Screamo so that people don't get confused with the modern usage by shitty modern "Screamo" bands
Bandcamp: http://caraneir.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caraneir
I'm not putting out a youtube video this time because it's unfair for the band to be judged from one track alone. The whole album needs to be listened as one for that gradual change in tone throughout the album.
Terence A. Anthony commutes between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. Co-Founder of Aural Chaos. He also writes for Greater Malaysia and Opinions Unleashed.