(written by Islander)
Let’s begin with these words from Transcending Obscurity Records, because they effectively create justifiable intrigue about what you’re about to hear:
Drofnosura from Canada are a strange beast and they’re comfortable in their own iridescent, translucent skin. They have taken elements from multiple styles such as sludge, doom, black, and even post metal, finely ground them, and used the material to sculpt a new body entirely. The influences are not as distinct any more but the entity nonetheless is able to shape-shift and display the tendencies of those styles.
That passage is part of how T.O. introduces Drofnosura‘s second album Ritual of Split Tongues, which will be released on October 24th. They also characterize the music as “whimsical, rhythmic, and elegant,” but as you ponder those adjectives don’t lose sight of the album’s cover art, because like that ghastly image the music is also quite capable of becoming horrifying — as you’ll soon learn for yourselves.
Four of the album’s six songs are ultra-long, each in a range between 10 and 16 minutes, and “The Well of Seven Heads“, which we’re about to premiere, is one of those. It clocks in at about 12 1/2 minutes. The temptation is great to try to explain precisely how Drofnosura shape-shift as the minutes pass, despite the fact that you can now hear it for yourselves.
At a very high level (and to use some words repeated below), the song creates a twisting spell, one that beckons but grows increasingly disturbing as its grasp becomes less gentle. Though the song is grounded in rhythms with a visceral, primeval appeal, the music and the vocals expand and transform into the fuel of nightmares.
In greater minutiae, the song begins like a mysterious rite, with drums tumbling a tribal rhythm, surrounded by shimmers of spectral sound, the quavering reverberation of glinting strings, and musing bass murmurs. The effects are seductive and intriguing, but when the drums briefly cease the music also begins to hint at something scarier.
The guitars begin to abrasively roil and eerily ring just as high-flown singing and scalding screams surface. The rhythm section keep their compulsive grip on the listener, which is a good thing because the collage of surrounding sounds grows increasingly discordant, disorienting, and unnerving. Vicious screams and ominous spoken words add to the music’s magnifying fear factor.
The instrumentation creates blaring horn-like pulses, demented screeches, weird quivering wails, and fried sizzling noises. The effect is hallucinatory, even nightmarish, and harsh vocal cacophonies make the nightmare even more dangerous. Even the brief resumption of singing doesn’t quell the evil spirits — if anything they seem even more tyrannical as the bass bludgeons, the snare hacks, and distorted notes descend in crashes or ominously moan and warp.
Make no mistake, in this most especially dark and deranged phase the song also creates a compulsive body-heaving groove, and the rumbling drum-fills and undulating bass-lines are electric, but it feels like something monstrous and hungry is bearing down on the listener. Is that you screaming near the end, or the shrill and painful pleasures of the guitars and synths?
DROFNOSURA is:
W.L.F. – Guitars, Vocals, Synthesizers
D.A.S. – Drums & Percussion, Vocals, Synthesizers
M.A.D. – Bass, Vocals, Synthesizers
That startling album cover is the work of Dusty Ray Art.
Transcending Obscurity will release the album on vinyl, CD, and digital formats, with lots of apparel and other merch offerings. They recommend it for fans of Blut aus Nord, Devenial Verdict, Eibon, Amenra, Lurk, Isis, Pillar of Light, and The Angelic Process.
Find pre-order info via the links below, and also have a listen to two more songs from the album, the two that begin the record, “Selection of a Corpse” and “Kapala Kriya“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://drofnosura-label.bandcamp.com/album/ritual-of-split-tongues
http://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
http://eu.tometal.com/
DROFNOSURA:
https://www.facebook.com/Drofnosura
https://www.instagram.com/drofnosura