Track Premiere: Aphotic – “Abyssgazer”
A series of timeless forms emerges, their colors shifted into an embryonic, eyelids-shut red, forms that are at once amniotic, galactic, and microbial blossom and dissipate. Drums take the first booming steps, stuttering but unstoppable, while chords spiral out into the void. Growls and shouts permeate the mix in such a way that they emanate from all points, like a kind of cosmic background, but there’s nothing micro about these waves.
Do you ever be the universe experiencing itself and be like, “Yo wtf”? Then this track is for you!
I don’t have a ton of familiarity with Kubrick, but I can certainly recognize “Abyssgazer”‘s 2001 homage, and it makes for some really compelling imagery as the riffs gain hypnotic powers through repetition and a newly frantic pace as the universe begins to either collapse or rip apart.
To achieve the kind of atmospheric and narrative feel Aphotic is going for, a good mix is crucial, and they have one thanks to Greg Chandler, with mastering by Colin Marston. The band says about their sound:
A dozen guitar tracks and half a dozen analog synthesizer patches compete in the creation of a thick, enveloping sound, where indulgent layers of modulated reverb generates a dreamlike sensation that copes with the obsessive, constant crescendo accompanying the entire song. Here in particular, influences such as Neurosis and Swans played an inspirational role.
Abyssgazer is out on March 24th on Sentient Ruin and Nuclear Winter Records. You can find it here on Bandcamp or fall into the depths of the ‘book or the ‘gram.
