Anubis Rising
Funerary Preamble
7.7
With a prophetic affinity for the understated, California residents Anubis Rising's last piece of press says simply, “We are dead.” And that, as they say, is that. Maybe I was the only guy confused by this band’s obituary, mostly because I had never heard of them in the first place, but I can offer a guarantee that fans of this unique style will wish they had jumped on the bandwagon while it was still rolling. I think our own Matt Mooring may have coined the term “Neurosis-core” on the forums recently and I can only offer that descriptor in sheepish plagiarism to sum up the music found on Funerary Preamble. Not spastic in that post-Neurosis fashion that Swarm of the Lotus or Ion Dissonance peddle with such skill but in a lavish and expansive sense; think Isis with more vocal involvement.
Letting this one slip through the cracks is my official, “Jones, I fear we may have fucked up in kingly fashion” moment for 2005. Preamble being the antonym in this case, the disc is in fact the eulogy for a defunct act. Compromising the band’s body of work, three EP’s are represented here: Scales of Truth, Uphill Battle, and Funerary Preamble. The latter being 4 tracks of unreleased ‘new’ material. Luckily the production values hold up and remain similar across the board. Expect earthy drum tone, richly flanged and phased bass guitar and a tranquil sea of distorted guitars muddled with hijacked black metal shrieks to strike the aural palette. A heady mixture of malts up front with a return of vague licorice and peat surfacing at the end for an enormously satisfying finale.
At times ponderous in scope, the band display true vision and talent by stringing together a vast array of influences and stylistic tweaking in a manner that never leaves the listener bored of feeling left out. The gamut Anubis Rising have us run is languid by comparison to their contemporaries but no less satisfying. Watery guitars ebb and break across just about every variation of distortion and reverb one could squeeze into an album and the peaceful tug is just as likely to continue ad infinitum as it is to explode into roaring hammer-on tritone intervals. Though I find it endearing, the critic in me must point out that the album’s major drawback is the aspect of technological experimentation. Anubis Rising apparently had an extensive fetish for guitar tone and they employ a dizzying number of processors and effects. That said, fans of envelope pushing sludge and trudge will find many aspects to love in this record.
Oh yes, in addendum, they close with an unnamed EyeHateGod cover my friend assures me does the original justice. I have no idea what album it comes from but the thing sounds like a Danzig track all freaked out on Halloween synthesizers. Sure, it’s a good track, but I don’t find myself running to explore the back catalogue of said band.
