Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Hail Architeuthis! - s/t EP

Architeuthis is the biological genus of the giant squid, a fact which I learned a few days before seeing this band play their first live show ever some months ago. That show will be burned in my memory for a very long while as the first, so far only, but hopefully not last, time I witnessed a band live up to a name that unabashedly conjures images of the epic and chaotic. This ship-sinking mayhem I witnessed at that first show and the ones that followed, however, is merely the face of the beast above the surface of the sea. Below, the creature fluidly roams the depths, silently vigilant of the surface for any ships unfortunate enough to cross into his waters.

This latter image is the subject of this debut EP, which serves as a sacred prelude to the ascent of their sacred beast. Twenty minutes of hallowed drones and aqueous soundscapes lead to a brief glimpse of chaos toward the close. This first release from HA! is damn near perfect in terms of the composition and execution of the music in relation to the image under which it was released. Beautifully haunting, this EP should be much more widely known, if only to let everyone in on how high the bar was set for a debut while they weren't paying attention.

9.5/10

http://aurisapothecary.org

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