Description
Unmaker, the 3rd album by Copenhagens LLNN, is a stupefyingly unforgiving affair: abrasive and vile, at times effervescent and escharotic, and finally absolutely smothering, suffocating, terminal.
LLNN burst onto the scene with 2016s critically acclaimed debut album Loss, a sheer display of absolute raging rawness, as Terrorizer put it. But there is more to their sound than that: the wavering drone synths that are effortlessly merged with a raw hard- core-driven darkness define the subtle idiosycratic nuances of LLNNs very unsubtle, painfully overwhelming sound (The Sludgelord).
After European tours with Bison, performances at festivals like Roskilde, Roadburn and Arctangent and a split EP with WOVOKA, LLNN returned with sophomore album Deads in 2018, an album that felt more compact, yet more complex and organic all at the same time. The band further explored the coalescence of the guitar & bass axis with keys player Ketil G. Sejersens synth layers a direction that is now further pursued on Unmaker. In fact, LLNNs contemporary heaviness is not just dense, suffocating tracks that build and crash or buried vocals coming from under thick guitars and pounding drums (Decibel): its also the very dominant synths that evoke the feel and vibe of dystopian, post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies, inspired by composers like Brad Fiedel, Vangalis, John Carpenter and Stanley Kubrick as much as by Sci-Fi / horror games like Silent Hill, Dead Space, Halo & Limbo.
As huge fans of classic sci-fi scores and video games were fascinated by how cinematic sound design can evoke certain emotions and let our imagination unfold into abstract storytelling, says Sejersen.
A recently released short film gives insight into the creation process and sound design on the new record, showcasing the process from the original sound recording to the final result, a production that took place at a blacksmith using various industrial machines. A big part of the sound design in LLNN is initially created by field recordings, and afterwards by modulating the raw audio files in post-production, says Sejersen. A circular metal saw was recorded and modulated and by layering these sounds over other estranged and heavily treated recordings of industrial tools, LLNN create their sometimes eery, sometimes harsh but always thematically coherent synth-soundscapes.
These sounds essentially manipulations of the real world orchestrate and exemplify the albums central theme: Unmaker is a tale about how technology, in combination with certain power structures, is transforming humanity, essentially affecting human values, and becoming an end in itself. A tale about how progress becomes regress, depending on the angle of the observer and the standards of appraisal.
It doesnt come as a suprise that ever since their inception, LLNN have triggered the interest of movie soundtrack composers like the award-winning Peter Albrechtsen, known for his work on movies like Dunkirk, Antichrist or The Girl Lo!s unpolished, abrasive sound calls up the image of a derailed freight-train, crushing everything in its path, ripping up the soil before coming to a flaming halt in the middle of the lifeless Moroccan hammada Lo! hailing from Sydney, Australia follow bands like Old Man Gloom on their path down the dirt-trail of sludgy, noisy hardcore but the band finds their own distinct sideways soon. Thats why Look and Behold sounds surprisingly fresh, from the first feedback of opener Hath to the last waning cymbals of closing track Fire at the Child Actors Guild. Atmospheric electronic interludes such as the elegiac Seraphim or Doth give the listener some space to take a breath in between the assault of mighty groove-riffs and berserk drum attacks and further add to the diversity of the whole damn thing. a sludgy and abrasive (though delicious) stew, seasoned with all kinds of exotic time signatures and a hint of Mastodon Blunt Magazine Seltsamer Name, coole Musik! LO! kredenzen uns auf ihrem ersten Full-Length-Werk ein reizvolles Postcore-Abenteuer, das sich im Spannungsfeld zwischen Cult Of Luna, Breach und Burst bewegt. Die Combo agiert rhythmisch sehr agil und variabel, Genre-artiges, stereotypes Riff-Gewalze sucht man auf Look And Behold größtenteils vergebens. LO! wechseln gerne und häufig das Tempo, der Ideenreichtum ist beachtlich und die Jungs schaffen es mühelos, ihre Musik fließen zu lassen. Es ist der Kontrastreichtum, der LO! anders macht. Abgerundet wird diese mitreißende Scheibe von einer transparenten, kraftvoll pushenden Produktion, die sämtliche Instrumente inklusive des facettenreichen Gesangs bestens beleuchtet. Klasse! Rock Hard (8 / 10)
CD Tracklisting
1. Hath
2. Deluge (Carnivorous Flux)
3. Bastion
4. Seraphim
5. Hued Tarantula
6. Aye, Commodore
7. Indigo Division
8. Doth
9. Moira Kindle
10. Fire at the Child Actors Guild
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