As much as I love post metal, I can’t deny that sometimes, the genre gets a little crowded with acts all chasing the same few influences. The scene is filled with bands trying to rewrite the catalogues of Isis, Neurosis, and Cult of Luna. A fair amount of bands have used this formula to great success, but after a while, even the most successful formula starts feeling a bit stale.
And that’s exactly why I’m so impressed by Migration, the latest outing from Kent, England’s Bossk. Obviously, the genre-appropriate influences are well in place—Cult of Luna’s Johannes Persson even offers vocals on “Menhir.” But Bossk’s musical landscape is a little more varied than most of their contemporaries, including elements of industrial and trip-hop. In fact, the opening track “White Stork” could almost pass for a Massive Attack track if it spent more time on the section with dark piano and ambient drum machines. “HTV-3,” which features Palm Reader’s Josh McKeown, punctuates the brutal hardcore with subdued verses with glitchy drum machines and guitar ambience.
As soon as I heard this album, it made me wonder why there hasn’t been much crossover between post metal and trip-hop before. Both genres traffic heavily in moody darkness and atmospheric soundscapes, though they take very different roads to get there. And yet, Migration never feels scattered in its vision or voice. It manages to marry drum machines with pounding drums, dark melodies with thick riffs, synthesizer atmospheres with heavily affected guitars, all while delivering a clear message.
Obviously, the two tracks with vocals catch your ear most immediately, but the instrumental tracks are perhaps more interesting. The two most engaging of these are the final two, “Unberth” and “Lira,” each post-metal opuses that stretch beyond the eight-minute mark to crushing resolutions.
At this point, I’ve listened through this album at least five times, each time more rewarding than the last. My only complaint is that as it is now, I can’t find any info about a vinyl pressing anywhere. That might seem like a minor issue to you, but it bothers me immensely, because I need this on vinyl.
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