Boston's impossible to pigeon-hole InAeona have a new record that bobs and weaves expectations, hopes, and genres.
From the first notes of "Bright Black," I knew that I wasn't in for what I was expecting. It’s is being hyped as this spacy, post-metal and industrial record. However, (and here’s where I secure my metal snob cap to my head) it really has more of a groovy nu-metal vibe to a bulk of it. It isn’t a vibe I’d associate with Korn or Coal Chamber, but rather more like a Static-X or the likes, so there's still some industrial in there. When the band slows things down I get what I was hoping for, but still not really in the way I expected.
The atmosphere that one might associate to post-metal is undeniable in tracks like “Sun Moon.” This song is slow, ambient, and heavy. It features the vocals turned down in the mix which is often part of the style of post-metal making the vocalist more of an ensamble than the star. Even still, the song goes back and forth between the pattern of a spacy verse and a chorus that crashes in. It doesn’t really match what I think of when I think post-metal as far as song structure, but I can say that I like the song a lot.
I wind up getting what I expected later in the record. “Ghosts” is a straight up great track. The vocals of Bridge are so emotive and pair phenomenally with the electronic-infused, ambient soundscape. There is a quality of being stuck in an abyss that the song conjures, and it is an abyss I’d happily settle down in. The track immediately next on the record, “Soldier” carries the same emotional weight, but picks up the energy while infusing some Deafheaven-like soaring guitar work with some mid-tempo Muse-like rhythm. While I really respect a band refusing to be a one-note band, had the rest of the record been more in the ballpark of “Soldier,” “Ghosts,” I'd probably be a much happier critic.
Frankly, there are times when this album totally loses me. The second song on the record, “Leader,” which seems like the album’s lead single employs some rhythmic screams (which I want to call scream-rapping but the lyrics actually don’t rhyme) and just reeks of an Otep nu-metal angst. Similarly “Empty Now” could have been another great song, but there’s a Jewel-ish yodel to the verses that’s just rubbing be the wrong way. Essentially, there's just issues with clashing juxtapositions throughout.
Musically, Force Rise The Sun ranges from inoffensive to stellar. The unremarkable serves a purpose as a bed for the vocal theatrics. On the flip side, when it’s good it is because it’s really powerful, sweeping, and beautiful heaviness that is impossible not to get lost in. However, the vocals don’t really get the same range. When she is really belting the emotional soaring stuff, she is nailing it. Hell, when she’s full on screaming, I find myself wanting more of that. Other times though it’s like Bjork in that Bjork (whom I adore) can be amazing, but how she sings can feel out of place in the context of a song or simply not quite in the key of the music.
Overall, I can’t really decide if I enjoyed this album. There are certainly songs that I liked and ones I didn’t. I suppose that I was a victim of PR hype though. When I got the promo, I wanted and expected a different record than I got. I hear a lot of potential for parts of a really great band that could come from this record. It's like when someone tells me to watch a movie without seeing a trailer for it first. I would have been better knowing nothing, and if you've read this review I sadly can't give you the same thing I wanted.
Force Rise The Sun is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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