NOISE TRAIL IMMERSION - Womb

Noise Trail Immersion - Womb

9 songs
40:04 minutes
***** **
Triton's Orbit

Bandpage

When I grew up, there was hard rock and heavy metal, and that was about it. But lately it seems that bands are trying their hardest to come up with new designations for what they are doing, because who wants to sound just like their neighbours? In the case of Turin based band Noise Trail Immersion, we get blackened math metal, and even though that is a rather strange new genre, it actually makes some kind of sense if the quintet’s chosen sound emporium.

Basically what they are doing is being an offshoot of what bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge started many years ago. The foundation of their music is extreme post metal, with the math part adding the progressive complexity that will make your head spin, and some black metal elements, reminding of bands like Déluge and Celeste, to finally give the end product its deserved dark atmosphere.

So two years after Noise Trail Immersion’s self-titled debut EP, they are now back with their first longplayer Womb. Even though the album makes it just over forty minutes, there is unfortunately some filler material that doesn’t disturb in itself but somehow gives the impression as if it was used to pad Womb up to a longer running time. Take for instance the nearly three-minute industrial intro Border which does set the mood but is maybe a little too long, considering the circumstances. The same can be said for the two-minute quasi song Ipnagogical towards the end of the album which also can’t quite keep up with the frenetic energy of the band’s regular material. And then we have the two long tracks – Womb at seven and a half minutes and the concluding Birth at eight and a half minutes – where the former comes across like an experimental sound installation, and the latter only has a wild middle part surrounded by two less interesting because slower movements.

The five songs that remain are really great, but only make up for half of the record. Had the entire album kept this crazy level of insanity, then a much higher rating would have definitely been in order. On these songs, Noise Trail Immersion really show what their music is about. They are thrashing frenetically through their songs full of strange guitar riffs and melodies, with the vocalist barking like a rabid madman, and the rhythm section giving it all a solid backdrop. If you do it like me, you will skip the less interesting pieces and consider Womb like a really successful EP. Too bad the entire album couldn’t be like that, but maybe next time? Noise Trail Immersion are an incredibly talented young band, and if they manage not to be distracted by their overly experimental side, the Italians might have a bright future ahead of them in the progressive post metal scene.

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