Insect Ark : "Raw Blood Singing"

The doomy murk of this duo's fourth album is tangible.  I have not spent more time with their albums. The answer that makes the most sense is, that there are only so many hours in the day, so I can only get to some things. Over the years I have become more efficient and able to cover more stuff, but some things slip through the cracks, like this project's first three albums. I like how atmospheric they are. The eerie dissonance that is created makes things heavier sonically than heavier in the metallic sense. 

"Youth Body Swayed" has a marginally more post-rock feel though the vocals are more purposeful creating an effect not unlike the place where Chelsea Wolfe operates, without trying to mimic her or blatantly flaunt that influence. Granted artists like Swans certainly were doing it before Wolfe. Siouxsie's more introspective moments would also be a fair comparison. Though not sure I would call this goth. However, I do like it and I am an old-school goth despite not dying my beard for some time,  so there might be something to that. 

In terms of dynamics from a songwriting perspective, the formula latches onto something and then drones it out, introducing melodies as we go.  While I reference post-rock earlier and a similar comparison to that genre might apply to "Cleaver Hearted" where it parts from post-rock there are no big cinematic climaxes. They do take their time and linger over the ambiance. When constructing instrumental pieces the heaviness lurks under the more ethereal nature of what they do. Effective enough. "the Hands" finds them returning to a more conventional structure. This gives her s the room to make the most of her moody musings. I am still determining how this will translate live, but enjoying the album so far. The last two songs are a bath of reverb and shimmering ambiance, which sounds cool but not much in terms of songwriting, it's as if I did some acid and wanted to improvise.  I will give this album an 8.5, as the focused songs are wonderful, and overall all there are stunning sounds, I just prefer stunning songs. They excel at the sound they do make and maybe that is more your thing, I appreciate what is being done here either way. 

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