专辑简介

Ayr专辑介绍：Line-up: Rick Contes - Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards Ben Gascho - Synths Randy Baucom - Drums Recorded at Birthwave Studio in September 2010. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Rick Contes. Ayr are a black metal band from North Carolina involving members of blackened crust wunderkinds Young and In the Way. Expanding on the depressive, forlorn themes on YAITW albums like I Am Not What I Am and V. Eternal Depression, while at the same time excising any crust elements for a more pure black metal sound, Eternal Sustain offers a closer look at the black metal that makes these guys tick. Opening track “Drifting” reminds me of the interlude parts of Wolves in the Throne Room's Two Hunters, with kaleidoscope, soundtrack-material guitars and expansive synths over top a drum beat that falls somewhere between martial and tribal. It's quite gorgeous and draws a lot of comparison to YAITW's more widescreen moments, such as “The Gathering” off their most recent album. “An Opening in the Earth” pulls from this same general emotional lagoon, with vaguely uplifting tremolo lines and propulsive drumming that wouldn't be out of place in any number of Cascadian black metal albums. About a third of the way in, though, things take a turn for the darker; the riff becomes much more menacing, the drumming becoming more oppressive for the center third of the song. The final third turns back toward the bleary-eyed style of the first, but the lingering aftertaste of the center bit casts it in a new light, or should I say darkness. “Released” is another synth interlude that cleanses the grime from the previous track before the monumental “Lifted by the Light From My Breath” closes out the EP. Despite being a USBM band made up of a bunch of punks, there's nothing really all that experimental or unusual about Ayr's approach to black metal. The only hint of its origins are Rick Contes' vocals, which sort of bring to mind Andrew Marshall but with an identifiable hardcore/crust edge that does more to bring to light their pedigree than a purposeful style. The guitar playing, albeit far from technical, could just as well come from the Pacific Northwest, Australia, Germany or Poland. In fact, comparisons to Polish masters Mgla wouldn't be too far off the mark, though Ayr are even more prone to let just a couple of chords drive the point home for extended periods. During their slow-burning midpaced death marches, drummer Randy Baucom lets the rock beat stomping flow but can't help but let snare and tom flourishes fly while the riff rides out. The closing track is a perfect example of this tendency. It's a great way of adding character to an otherwise basic beat and injects a whole lot of extra emotion into the band's performance. The production on Eternal Sustain is nearly perfect. The guitars have just the right amount of distortion and bite, and the reverb-soaked leads wail their howling laments with a perfectly sculpted tone. The synths, of course, sound gorgeous and clear, floating above the earthy instrumentation. The drums sound incredibly organic and natural (just listen to those toms in the middle of “An Opening in the Earth”!), though sometimes during the double bass section the tone of the bass drums sounds a little less powerful than it should. Rick's vocals get the right amount of reverb to make them sound distant and pained but are still a major part of the mix, not buried under the guitar. This release is bound to please fans of powerful, melancholic mid-paced black metal with an emphasis on simple but effective melodies. You won't fun an abundance of aggression on “Eternal Sustain”, nor will you find thrashy pit anthems that make you want to wreck your neck. The only downside is that, at under 32 minutes including about 11 minutes of intro/interlude, the material here really only explores two ideas. They're both fascinating and entrancing, and I would've loved at least two more songs on this EP to expand it out to a full length album. “An Opening in the Earth” shows just how good these guys are at writing powerful tremolo melodies, but “Lifted by the Light...” has no room for them with its more measured approach. Something in between would've really scratched that itch. A worthy follow-up to their debut, “Circling” and a worthy slice of fantastic black metal from the US.