Eolomea is the latest Locrian-related side project, featuring Andre Foisy on guitars and vocal duties and David Reed (Envenomist) on synthesizers. I didn’t know quite what to expect but I knew that anything that Foisy’s involved with would be irresistibly great. And, assuredly, I was anything but disappointed when I popped this bad boy into the tape deck. “Sootfall and Fallout” doesn’t just have a Locrian-esque track title but gives me my first taste of what’s on this tape. To me, everything sounds like a stripped-back more-drone-less-metal version of Locrian themselves. The comparison to Locrian is inevitable and necessary, so you can’t blame me for putting the two side by side. I mean, it’s got the dark atmospheres and the anguished cries of Locrian. I would say where Eolomea departs from Locrian is in its more concentrated textures and inner confusion, frustration, and depression. Locrian ventures down many more diverse avenues of creativity and expression, seeming more metal and even violent. Eolomea exposes and lays bare the internal conflict from within more than musically describing the external conflict that comes from without that I hear projected in Locrian. Long wavelengths of guitar reverb that climb and descend, expand and deflate, glow and diminish. The total ambiance dances with the devil in the pale moon light. Freaking audible stark contrasts between slivers of light and encroaching shadows. An all out hats-off tribute to a decaying and dying world.
The first two tracks remind me of Locrian’s more ambient moments, especially with the added shrill shrieks. Those are each just under five minutes. But the third track is the last and longest track of the album, called “Seven before the Throne.” It lasts almost twenty-one minutes and is much more intentionally instrumental in nature and really messes with your head. I would encourage you not to listen to it alone at night. It is a claustrophobic anxious nightmare of a track that hangs on suspense. The climax doesn’t necessarily builds, but surprisingly effectively leaves you in the lurch for a long period of time. The crunchy static in addition with the menacing drones doesn’t help make things any easier to swallow. It might be a single-sided tape that repeats on both sides, but this gives you plenty to absorb. Beautiful j card art with pro imprinted tapes that feature glacier ink on deep sea clear shelled tapes. Limited to 100. This is a must for anyone who appreciates Locrian’s work.
