Numenorean
Home
Season of Mist
Release Date: 22 July 2017
Review by Thomas Riley Lanyon
The post-black metal landscape has flourished in recent years, largely due to the breakout success of San Francisco’s Deafheaven, who dragged black metal, kicking and screaming, out into the California sun to burn brilliantly before a wider audience. The downside, however, is that there are now more bands than you can poke your pitchfork at, all striving to weave beauty through nastiness.
Home, the debut album from Canadian newcomers, Numenorean, is a perfect example of a good album swallowed by oversaturation. Its impact lessened by being somewhat uninspired. That’s not to say though that Home isn’t worth a spin or two, because it is. On the title track, which opens the record, climactic builds collapse into passages of iridescent ambience, and it’s all rather affecting. On Devour and Laid Down, soaring melodic guitar lines burst from frenetic dissonance and create a great sense of dynamism. The only obvious downside to the record is Shoreless, a three and half minute instrumental piece that serves as Home’s halfway point. Put simply, it’s dull, and ultimately ends up feeling entirely pointless, as the music is recycled and reused towards the end of Devour.
Perhaps the greatest thing about Home as a whole its overall sound, which borrows just as much from post-rock as it does from black metal. The music is given space and room to breath, and makes for a welcome change to the ‘wall of noise’ approach taken by many of their peers. The record is also wonderfully produced, the music sounds played, performed, and organic. Home is a promising record from an exciting band; still very much in it’s infancy. Here’s hoping that Numenorean carve out more of an identity on their next record.
