Surachai: To No Avail

To No Avail needs to be left to fester in the background. To fully appreciate how good this is, press play and then go do something else, and before long your attention will irretrievably be drawn into its labyrinthine complexities. The two ruminations on the barren wastes beyond the penumbra of hope and purpose that make up the sadly too short 22-minutes are elaborately and solidly structured and layered with a wealth of instrumentation from electronic sounds to distorted guitars and sombre violins. Though it's relatively short, it's not once arduous or dull, nor is it overlong. To No Avail is as succinct and precise as 22-minutes of black metal experimentation should be. Every listen returns something new, whether it's the tremolo-picked riffs, the rapidly strummed chords, the voice that emerges from seemingly nowhere, or just the droning ambience and empty atmospheres that arrest the attention, To No Avail is utterly captivating and enthralling. Desolate, despairing, and urgent, the experience of the aesthetic pallor of this album is near-tangible. The repetition of the riffs makes them stronger, fiercer; the violin at the end of part 1 adds an emotive, melancholically frail tone; the electronic aspect crumbles around the edges; and the abandoned, post-apocalyptic atmospheres that cascade from the speakers overwhelms. Recommended, very much so.

Track Listing:

1. To No Avail side •
2. To No Avail side ••

Added: November 30th 2011
Reviewer: Jason Guest
Score:
Related Link: Surachai's website
Hits: 2807
Language: english

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