Darsombra – Ecdysis / 2006 At A Loss / 6 Tracks / http://www.darsombra.com / http://www.atalossrecordings.com / Reviewed 02 March 2006

The atmosphere that is immediately created by Brian Daniloski (Meatjack) as Darsombra on this album creates a viable track out of incidental noise. While there are some actual instruments present, the mixture of noise with individuals talking and other noises really creates a tension that flows away during the introspective arrangements that mark the second half of “Thinning The Herd”. The use of continued repetition but with only minor changes in each subsequent iteration really is the brightest spot of Darsombra’s music.

Everything is more than linked to other sections of the track and other tracks, but there necessarily needs to be some previous context to fully understand the band. What kind of artist can continue a track with something that is near a sine wave and not lose 90% of their audience? The beginning of “The Place Where There Is No Darkness” shows that Darsombra is one of the lucky few individuals who has enough talent to couch something so grating in a track and actually have it be compelling instead of as a whole scale fan repellant. Aside from the incidental vocals that play such a large role in “Thinning The Herd”, the catchy nature of this album is created without any direct human connection to the listener. The learning curve on the tracks of “Ecdysis” is not nearly as high as one would think; sure, there are longer run times (songs average out to be about 5:30) but everything instrumental is done in a way that individuals can understand Brian’s motivations.

Experimental metal as on “My House” does more to create a specific vision than the most lucid lyrics or catchy guitar riffs. “Ecdysis” takes a distinctly different route when it comes to “My House”, with a “Closer”-like sound to the drums that approximate the human heart (down to the minor nuances present in its’ heartbeat). Vocals do come back during this track, and while there is a minor amount of comparison that can me made to Native American chanting (and “Hey Man Nice Shot”-era Filter), the major influence of the track is much more Middle Eastern than anything. The amount of information contained on this relatively-short album is impressive; at only 35 minutes an individual still has to take a few hours to decipher the complicated narrative that Darsombra has laid down for us as listeners. Kudos also has to go to such an interesting use of vocals as more of an instrumental type of thing on many of the disc’s tracks.

Top Track: Drag The Carcass

Rating: 6.9/10

[JMcQ]