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BINAH “Ónkos”
BINAH “Ónkos”
By Lord Randall
BINAH’s never been one to shy away from lengthy explorations within its limited number of releases, - half of the actual songs found on 2012’s “Hallucinating In Resurrecture” debut passing the 7-minute mark – but when the band chose to return from eight years between albums with “Ónkos”, I knew we had something potentially intriguing on our hands.
Composed of two pieces, each extending past 20 minutes, it’s obvious the band wants us to immerse ourselves in this experience, and thus, headphones ‘round my earholes, I began to ascend “Mount Morphine”. With two synth players in the ranks, and over a quarter of an hour to play around with, there’s absolutely no rush to get anywhere, nor should there be. Hazed ‘n’ phased keys, reminiscent of, say, Cold Spring or even early ‘90s World Serpent Distribution, lead the way until a chemically altered transition into utter death abrasion ensues. I’d have liked to hear the section build a bit more than it was allowed to, but the BEDSORE via DEMILICH flowers are in full bloom, so I’m not complaining too much. Synths crash, solos spark and catch fire, and those relentless and impeccable drums of Storm (aka Dan Mullins of MY DYING BRIDE, BLASPHEMER) pound us into otherworldly throes. From blackfire death comes a sloughing malevolence in the drugfog at 10:34, and we’re heading down, further, down still, the passage around twelve minutes in seeping and hallucinatory until a brief respite leads us back into the sonic turmoil. BINAH is using its time wisely here, and we can but ride along willingly or be dragged.
A spacious coda leads us into “The After Evermath”, the synths lending a more dystopian, future-primitive element at first, dervish leads and time-twisting rhythms convulse and do battle, as the guitars of Aort [guitar, bass, synths] and Ilia R. G. [vocals, guitars,synths] glory in upheaval. Let yourself tumble into the passage from 3:45-5:44, and you’ll hear practically every nuance found in death or doom, and – when it flows as ideally as it does here – know that this is dumb lead being alchemized into sonic gold before your very ears. GORGUTS flows freely around 9 minutes in, the nether-realm between “The Erosion Of Sanity” and “Obscura” for aural reference points, while around 1/3rd of the way in, we’re presented with a section that builds from near nothing to a whole lot of something, shrouded keys and doomed riffing culminating in the staccato slice ‘n’ dice of 15:00-15:20. The engines, as do we all, eventually wind down, but by choice and naturally, not whatsoever forced or contrived, droning slowly to inevitable demise.
Bands such as LUNAR CHAMBER, BALMOG and the aforementioned BEDSORE have been twisting death with psychedelia for the past few years now, even more so on their latest releases.
Add BINAH and “Ónkos” to this concoction and, in the right state, played in the correct order, we may have found the elixir.
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