Bend: Woest
Žanr: avant garde metal/funeral doom
Izdavač: samizdat

Retko se dešava da se pojavi bend koji me "osvoji" nakon trećeg ili četvrtog slušanja, - prosto ponekad stvari moraju da sazru, da bi isplivali slojevi, naročito kad je u pitanju netipična muzika u okviru jednog žanra, koji "ne dopušta" mnogo eksperimentisanja. Sada, bend Woest smatram za jednim od otkrića u 2017. godini!

Oni dolaze iz Francuske i sviraju veoma čudnu mešavinu žanrova i s punim pravom mogu da se svrstaju u vrlo tesni, ali opet veoma bitni okvir avangardnog metala. Taj pojam je paradoks sam po sebi, jer se u gvozdeni okov metala ukalupljuju uticaji koji nemaju direktne veze sa rock muzikom i kulturom - ipak, on postoji. Numere su im isključivo na francuskom jeziku (koji mi je potpuno stran, na žalost), ali me to nije sprečilo da ipak prihvatim i samosvojno tumačim koncept onakav kakav jeste - milenijumi divljanja ljudskog roda pod okriljem civilizacijskih tokova je stvorio od nas još gore životinje, zveri i monstrume. Pesme se upravo bave tim vrlo mračnim delom naše prošlosti, sadašnjosti, ali, na nesreću, i budućnosti. Produkcija albuma je poprilično 'gruba' (ali opet definisana), u svim numerama se smenjuju uticaji funeral doom-a i drone metal-a (koji se haotično smenjuju), black metal-a, dungeon synth-a (usudio bih se reći i krautrock-a), sa obrisima proto-industrial-a, noise-a, maestralno uklopljenih u funkcionalnu celinu. Numere su komponovane po maltene sličnom principu (gotovo su istovetne), a da pritom dinamika aranžmana ne pati i postoji prostor za promenu ritma ili drukčiji sklop riffova, koji su fenomenalno izvedeni. Pored odlične sirove funeral doom/black osnove (gitarski rad i ritam sekcija), kroz pesme se provlače fantastični synth pasaži koji daju dodatnu soničnost, sumornost i melodičnost, tako balansirajući između sirovosti i harmoničnog ustrojstva. Ono što me je naročito obradovalo jeste prisustvo vokalne tehnike kojom se pevač služi, a to je kaargira, tehnika grlenog pevanja kojom se mogu postići tonovi izrazito niske frekvencije. Po mom mišljenju, ovakvi vokali su se potpuno uklopili u koncept, i mešajući se sa povremenim growlom, začinili su već turobnu atmosferu, dovodeći je do krajnjih granica izdržljivosti. Samim tim, muzika Woesta ne trpi ograničenja, i baš zbog toga ga mnogi možda i neće razumeti. Pripišimo to avangardi. Ono što bi moglo da se okarakteriše kao mana jeste ponavljanje i preslikavanje motiva u riffovima, ako uzmemo u obzir da nisu svi naviknuti na ovakvo eksperimentisanje. Da ne zaboravim pomenuti i sjajan omot, koji verno odslikava turobnost i blagu okultnu notu celog albuma.

Slobodno tvrdim, da pored Car Bomb-a, koji svoj avangardni šmek guraju u pravcu mathcore-a, Woest to čini sa funeral doom-om i proto-industrial-om, kao dve krajnosti koje ne dopuštaju da metal, kao kultura za sebe, ne stoji u mestu.


Preporuka: "Noir", "Toundra"

SAVAGERY AND AVANT-GARDE – Review of the album „La fin de l'ère sauvage“ by Woest


Prevod/Translation: Jelisavčić Jelena

Band: Woest
Album: La fin de l'ère sauvage
Genre: avantgarde metal/funeral doom
Publisher: self-released

Seldom it happens that a band would win me over only after the 3rd or 4th listening. I suppose sometimes it just takes time for impressions to settle and fruits of creativity to get ripe, for hidden layers to appear, and especially when it comes to atypical music from a narrow genre which does not allow for a lot of experiment. Right now, I consider the band Woest as one of my greatest discoveries in 2017!
Hailing from France, it brings a very peculiar mix of genres which can rightfully be sorted into the very thin, yet nonetheless crucial group of avant-garde metal. This group, paradoxical by itself, getting into the iron frame of metal some influences that have no direct connection with neither rock music nor rock culture in general, yet it exists and persists. The lyrics are in French, which is an unknown for me, did not block me to accept and autonomously see the concept for what it is: millennia of human kind's rampage under the cover of civilization has created even worse from us as animals: beasts and monsters. Woest's songs consider exactly these dark past times of us, and what unfortunately seems to be the dark future as well. Although the production is rather rough, it is still well defined, clearly showing an expertly put together and immensely functional combination of many influences: every track holds a chaotic pairing of funeral doom and drone metal; black metal and dungeon synth can be felt (with a smidge of, dare I say it, krautrock), touched by proto-industrial and noise. There is a clear, detectable, and, even more, the exact same pattern in the making of each track - yet the dynamics of the arrangements does not suffer under it, there is a wide space present for rhythm changes and different riff integrations, performed masterfully. Hand in hand with an excellent raw funeral doom/black core (the guitar and the rhythm section) come some fantastic synth passages, that add the sonic dim melody, and therefore balance out the rawness and the harmonic. A special nice surprise for me is the technique of the vocalist: kargyraa, the type of singing that can achieve very low frequencies. This vocal type fit into the overall concept perfectly, and, mixed with an occasional growl, spices up the general gloomy atmosphere, bringing it to the edges of standability. Considering all the stated, one may say Woest's sound cares about no borders and frameworks, which can probably make it stay unpleasant or an enigma to many. Let's hinge that under the cover of avant-garde. Something that could be characterized as a flaw is the repetition and overlap of motives in the riffs, considered not everyone is used to this kind of experiment. Worthy of mention is the terrific album cover, that truthfully depicts the obscure occult note of the entire album.
I firmly take the standpoint that - next to the Car Bomb, who push their avant-garde taste in the direction of mathcore - Woest, with its funeral doom and industrial wires, pushes the limits in another direction. Together, as two opposite borderline entities, they do not let metal, as an independent nonaligned culture, to stay put, to not grow and evolve.

Recommendations: "Noir", "Toundra"