Apparition: Feel

When I read that this album was produced by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studio I was excited, and I hadn’t even listened to a single track. Young has worked with Nails, God’s Hate, and Xibalba, easily one of the heaviest bands out there. Now that I’ve officially listened to this album, I’m still hooked and I’m ready for more.

Apparition first caught everyone’s attention with 2020s Granular Transformation, a 7� that gave us all a tantalizing taste of what to expect next. Like Xibalba, Apparition is based in Los Angeles, and they bring nothing less than a brutal, heavy, thick, and powerful set of songs. The heart of the band is made up of drummer / vocalist Andrew Morgan and guitarist / bassist Miles McIntosh, both of whom play very well. They also aren’t afraid to draw on influences outside of traditional death metal. Of particular note is the band’s occasional push into the strange and the uncanny. This comes, in part, because of Morgan and McIntosh’s background in jazz, but it also comes from a desire to see what else this style of music can do.

The nice thing is that you can listen to this album and simply enjoy the heaviness of the whole thing. Much of the experimentation comes from changes in time signatures that manifest as sudden stops and starts. These give the music a slightly off-kilter feeling that makes the more groove-oriented sections all the more satisfying. They also underscore how heavy everything is. For me, the sound is equivalent to a weight holding everything down.

There are more highlights on this album than duds, but my favorite tracks are “Drowning in the Stream of Consciousness,� “Unequilibrium,� “Perpetually Altered,� and “Feel.� “Drowning in the Stream of Consciousness� has the band pulling out all the stops. It’s probably the best introduction to what these guys are up to, but you can’t really go wrong with anything here.

I’m enthusiastic about what this band will do next. They are definitely playing from their strengths here, but it will be interesting to see where the band decides to go next. There is definitely some room for additional growth and development, but let’s hope the band will stick with the thick and heavy sound they’ve established so well here. I would love to catch this band on the road.

Track Listing:
1. Unequilibrium
2. Drowning in the Stream of Consciousness
3. Nonlocality
4. Perpetually Altered
5. Entanglement
6. Feel

Added: January 21st 2022
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Bandcamp Page
Hits: 703
Language: english

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