This experimental Chicago band has been toying with the dark sonic corners for over twenty years. It’s been eleven of those years since we have had a new album from Yakuza, and it is good to dive back into their land of twisted shadows. The focus has shifted to a more deliberate brand of heavy, that places them not far from the sonic zip code of older Mastodon. The differences are fewer guitar pyrotechnics and a much darker trajectory than the Atlanta progsters. Bruce Lamont’s baritone moan carries a hint of anger as the opening track is framed with dissonance.
While ‘Alice’ has a more deliberate metal chug, in many ways this feels like a noise rock band that stumbled into an actual studio to mistakenly capture a massive sound by mistake with the punk aspirations traded for metal’s grandiosity. The album is painted with textures from many genres, at times a more grunge-like atmosphere turns things toward a more introspective mood. The album benefits from this as this gives it a great dynamic balance.
There is no formula creating any kind of uniformity, with each song generally possessing its own clear-cut identity, until the album takes a darker turn and a similar hypnotic groove underlies the tone.
With ‘Echoes From the Sky’ math rock chaos breaks out; a writhing pulse under the angular riffing, compromises the melody forcing Lamont to yell at you more often than not on that one. If forced to pinpoint the metal subgenre most closely related to what they are doing here, the answer would be Sludge. When it slows down in a Swans-like creep, the burly bass keeps booming behind it. They ebb things down even further into a more Doors-like place as Lamont’s croon gets comfortable. ‘Capricorn Rising’ is where the album begins to settle into the more shadow-drench vibes before they smack you with a straight-up metal attack. If you asked me before this album if Yakuza was a metal band, I would have said “No, they are just influenced by metal, and have lots of friends in the metal scene they delve into side projects with”.
Now my answer might be a little different.
They answer that question themselves with the thrashed-out sludge of ‘Burn Before Reading’ which once again warrants comparisons to early Mastodon. The chug of the guitar carries more thrash in its veins. This tension is broken two and a half minutes later with a shift into an ambiance that the sax floats along. It is worth noting here that the saxophone figured more prominently in the band’s previous work than it does here. When it appears it tends to sit further back into the mix forcing you to listen more closely for the cry of the bendy sex-whistle.
One of my favorite moments is the dark exotic slither of ‘Walking God’. The moodier moments on this album prove to be the strongest. are some of the album’s strongest. This song builds up with gradual heaviness that comes down like a storm spreading over the ocean. ‘Into Forever’ reminds me of The Melvins, as it is driven by a cool riff that makes no apologies for being metal. The left-of-center vocals are oddly phrased which comes from a much less emotionally aggressive place than most metal, They keep up their weird streak with ‘Psychic Malaise’, as the riffs jerk you around like a rollercoaster. To contrast this the last song is more spacious and is the equivalent to sailing away into the dusk. It builds into a more progressive climax if you are thinking of prog in terms of bands like Vandergraf Generator and King Crimson, rather than masturbatory excesses of guitar solos or tempo changes.
If you allow this album the necessary spins you will be rewarded as it grows on you. This return to form from the band does take close notes from their peers. These guys have not been idle in their downtime, and have appeared in countless side projects that have popped up over the past five years, so it makes sense since they returned to this band with a greater appreciation for metal than before. If you wished that they would transition over to the dark side you go their wish, if you pretended in the past that you were listening to jazz fusion because of the sax, then you can no longer fool yourself since that has been dialed back in order to achieve this heavier sound, but fans of this band should walk away from this album pleased.
Buy the album here:
8 / 10
WIL CIFER