Manatees' - pic: Lucy Johnson
Manatees’ new record ‘Icarus, The Sunclimber’ is a fantastic creation by the three boys from Carsile. Their new record shows what Manatees do best, especially listening to this great opener of a composition, it is eerily slow and has fantastic driven out riffs almost frantic in some respects. The title track reveals the bands more ambient side, its ultimately forceful and bleak. A crushing rhythm pushes this track, dragging your subconscious lower and lower. I could only imagine it being the sound of heaven being burnt to the ground; an aggressive melody builds into an almost grieving voice that is filled with absolute content.
A powerful shock hits your after being driven into a harmonic daze as ‘Hyperion Altitude’ kicks in, a powerful sound and discordant in some respects, as dark and as heavy as of early Neurosis with Manatees the epic and atmospherically heavy voice. Feedback emphasises fantastically these horribly addictive riffs that they create. This makes me picture an apocalyptic image of fire and brimstone, and dinosaurs tearing each other apart. After a stop it comes back in as heavy as before, so climatic and slow, and the solo for good measure just emphasises this mammoth of a creation.
The start of untitled seems to be preparing me for war, the drums kick in and it sounds like an army going through hell. A driving sound that brings the track up to a climatic build up, and the vocals bring a new side of hate to this song, it’s disjointed and static.
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The record leaves how it began, with a wall of noise that destroys the ears. This collection of compositions ends atmospherically, with static rain and harmonic acoustics, which create beautiful soundscapes for a great intro to this final song, which carries on progressively with new sounds and deep hollow feedback, harrowing constant imagery, followed by dark ambiance. This album is heavy, just so heavy, each riff sounds like an earthquake. This is a beautifully writtenb epic of and ender for this record. I recommend this release to anyone who accepts darkness into his or her lives.
Mazz Gambardella
