Ehnahre | ‘Alpha/Omega’

Let’s get the elephant out of the room first - there’s no way of talking about Ehnahre without mentioning the fact that they contain ex members of love’em or hate ‘em Hydra Head “artistes”  Kayo Dot, whose recent series of increasingly noodle-laden releases would perhaps not be of interest to many in the metal scene only for their presence on the well respected Hydra Head label.

Ehnahre are similarly difficult bastards - an atonal two song 12″ based around the story of “Leda And The Swan”?Sure lads. What seperates these boys from their previous, more Howard Moon-friendly employ however is that while the share the whole “modern composition” angle with the Dot to some degree, Ehnahre are very clearly and firmly still rooted slap bang in METAL territory, specifically the borderline between death metal and sludged out doom.

Opening with slow, dischordant intertwining guitars that suggest we’re in for a lengthy dirge,it takes all of 54 seconds before we’re thrown abruptly into lightning speed avant-death blasting that Portal would be proud of. Clearly, for all their cerebral intentions, it’s immediately clear that Ehnahre are equally adept at smashing your fucking teeth in when the urge takes them.

This is broken up by intermittent, stop/start breaks with the occasional burst of what appears to be a trumpet player choking to death while he plays (no, seriously). Which in turn returns to more frenzied speed. Which in turn brings us back to the unsteady dirge of the start. If that’s confusing to read, it’s even more confusing to listen to, believe me. In truth, the hanging (dis)chords are the main body of most of the first track, but the expertise with which these are deployed and melded with stretches of more straightforward, double -bass driven headbanging sections is such that even the most progression fearing among you will be on board by the end.

Side B commences with spidery, undistorted guitars and the faint sounds of a violin for its’ opening minutes before we’re dragged into the eye if the storm again. It’s this opening section that’s the section of the record I keep coming back to, carrying as it does a genuinely unsettling air. Even when the speed picks up in fact, that sense of dread and disturbance is still very much prevalent throughout the piece.

I could bang on about their use of dissonance, the innovation of their time signatures and their overall thoughtfulness in a field of music usually reserved for mindless bludgeon, but this isn’t The Wire magazine here, so who are we fucking kidding. I will however tell you that the thing that sets Ehnahre miles ahead of the pack in terms of technical or progressive death metal (or death-inspired metal even) is their organicness.

This is clearly music which requires technical proficiency at a higher level, but at no point do they shove their muso leanings in your face - the players serve the songs here, and not the other way round. PLus, it’s a wonderful thing to hear a record of this style sound like a band playing in a room. No triggers, no overproduction, and guitars that are distorted but still warm and clear make this so much easier to absorb and revisit than many other practicioners of tech metal robots currently doing the rounds.

Only complaint? Well, having waited for this follow up to the debut “The Man Closes Up” for so long, you have to ask - only two fucking songs like? C’mon lads. Still, if there was ever a record to leave you wanting more, this is it.

4/5 - Jamie Grimes ::: 11/06/10