2017 Has Been A Terrific Year For Art As Catharsis

With banging release after banging release.

A couple months back, I had my first introduction to Sydney record label, Art As Catharsis, when I covered 'Loom', the dissonant and immense debut record from Newcastle's Tired Minds. Now, that's a band that fits perfectly under the wings of Art As Catharsis and that LP was a fine addition to the 11-year-old label's release archives. Without going into too much detail, 'Loom' was is a mighty solid record that any hardcore band would be more than lucky to have as their first full-length, and it's one that Tired Minds excelled greatly on, both as musicians and as songwriters.

Over on the label's Bandcamp page, their bio simply reads, "A humble Australian record label with a love for music that is progressive, psychedelic, or different". That's a mission statement that owner Lachlan R. Dale has maintained very well over the years. Especially in 2017, all by releasing and promoting eclectic records that are different, have something to say, that are meant to be thought about, and albums that aren't mere musical commodities or exercises of flash-in-the-pan mediocrity.

In January, Art As Catharsis put out 'Ode To Doubt', an experimental, seven movement chamber music record from Hinterlandt. As Hinterlandt put it themselves regarding that release, "think Sufjan Stevens meets John Zorn’s Masada, or Owen Pallett mixed with Kronos Quartet and Tin Hat Trio", and that's a very apt description. Not long after that in February, out came Skullcave's 18-minute live recording, 'Bleak'. 'Bleak' is this, er, well... bleak and doomy, sludgy piece that was written over the course of a year to try and audibly express and describe the personal experiences of anxiety attacks; something that I think the band nailed rather well. Then in March arrived both 'Heteronomy' by Zeitgeber and 'Unearthing' by Into Orbit. On the latter, the post-rock space-operatic duo that is Into Orbit - made up of guitarist Paul Stewart and drummer Ian Moir - shift their expansive sound between grand ambient movements, moments of punishing doom riffage and spacious post-rock over the course of their LP's forty minutes. The former album from Sydney's Zeitgeber is this instrumentally eclectic, fusion-driven dive into psychedelic, ambient, electronic and world music that also uses audio samples to add to the record's concept of intricate human behaviour and psychology. It's a rather heady yet incredibly interesting listen nonetheless.

Each of these consistent releases - while not all exclusively metal or heavy - do fit within the ideals and vision that guides Art As Catharsis. Since however, the Aussie record label has gone on to release four more magnificent albums, all of a much heavier sounding, far darker variety. And it's these four records that we now look at.

1. Adrift For Days - 'A Sleepless Grey'

Excluding the recent albums from Elder and Pallbearer (both decent records in their own right), if there was one album in 2017 that really stood out to me amongst the progressive, psychedelic, doom and gloomy pack, it'd have to be 'A Sleepless Grey'. This ominous new full-length from NSW's Adrift For Days - their first in four years - stands imposingly tall and proud next to Tired Mind's 'Loom' for my arbitrary favourite AAC release this year.

Adrift For Days third full-length combines the psychedelic tones and doomy visions of veteran influencers like Neurosis, the ground-shaking sonics of Earth's post 'Hex' years, the deep low-end and thickly distorted heavy riffs of your Elder's and your Sleep's. As well as the layers and textured aesthetics of classic progenitors like Pink Floyd. While this smoked-out Sydney band - of which owner Dale also plays guitar for - borrows heavily from many of their genre's best, Adrift For Days doesn't just offer some half-assed imitation. Rather, they make these styles into their own sound, and a bleakly complex, doom-laden, and epic sound at that.

Across the record, vocalist Mick Kaslik channels the mood of Jim Morrison and the rough warmth of Nick Cave as effortlessly as he does that of Al Cisneros (Sleep) and Scott Kelly (Neurosis), and the evil snarls, raw shrieks and deep bellows he delivers elevate the music even further. When the guitars aren't calming down the band's sonic palette with lush, natural tones, they're crushing the listener with heavy, doomy riffs that creep under the melodic lines or help to create washes of swirling drone and fuzzy psychedelia. And that's not even counting the moving, groovy yet dry drums of Steve Kachoyan, the album's suitably raw production, and the over-bearing nature of the chest-imploding bass here either. From the foreboding guitar chords and haunting eeriness that opener 'We Stare Into The Sky' builds so powerfully upon, right up until this grand cinematic record comes to a close with a dirge of distortion and ringing feedback from the cascading outro 'When The Knot Unties', 'A Sleepless Grey' is just an incredible, authentic record. And it's one that I love deeply!

Favourite songs: 'We Stare Into The Sky', 'A Sleepless Grey', 'This Sinking Feeling'. 

2. Omahara - self-titled. 

The music that Hobart's Omahara create is more ritualistic than anything else. It's a sound that's characterised by long, drawn out instrumental compositions where minimalism can slowly and painstakingly snowball into something much greater. The group fill their sonic lulls, highs and intermediate points with slowly fluctuating dynamics, varying experimental sounds, deep ambience, tribalistic rhythms, droning pedal-affected guitars, and ominous chords. As you can probably imagine, the music is just so tonally dark and brooding that its oppressive in its atmosphere; whether it be in moments of near-silent eeriness or in sections of cacophonous feedback and noise. In an emotional and psychological sense, this hour-long work is also rather isolating at times. An idea that seems to be born from the isolation and expansive wilderness of Omahara's home state, Tasmania; the very kind of ominous landscapes that also fronted the cover of The Nation Blue's emotionally-tinged 2016 LP, 'Blue'.

As for the actual song's on Omahara's self-titled release, there are four movements - each of them untitled, acting as one cohesive piece rather than just four individual songs. These four movements strike a fine balance between being both engaging yet incredibly distant and it's a rather strange effect and the dichotomy that the group has struck upon here. According to the band's bio on this release, these "performances stem from an improvisation reflecting a particular psychological landscape, in which the individual is annihilated and the listener is invited to vanish into themselves." That idea of pulling the listener in and making them "vanish into themselves" is something that Omahara achieves so well with their darkly ambient drone sound; a particular style of music that perhaps achieves such an effect better than most other styles could.

Personally, I'm far from the biggest fan this style of music, as while I don't hate nor dislike drone, I often find such music to be nothing more than mere background music. Yet while Omahara's music does indeed fit such a descriptor, that's actually not a bad thing here. For this record's intent feels like it's meant to be an omnipresent force in your life that lives in the background yet also exists in the foreground at the same time. As such, this is actually one of the rare drone releases that's really enthralled me in recent memory.

It won't be for everyone, of course, yet fans of the usual suspects - Sunn O))), Locrian, Mammifer and Earth (a band whose influence upon this label's releases is incredibly apparent) - will feel right at home with Omahara.

Favourite songs: While I do love the second and fourth movements specifically, to separate these songs from the larger body of work feels like a disservice, so I'm just going to the say whole damn thing is great. Even if that's a massive cop-out.

3. Cascades - self-titled

Cascades, like many of the other AAC bands, sure do love to take their sweet fucking time with their music. This is one of the greatest strengths of their recent debut album, however, as the stacked, monstrous best-of-the-lot opener 'Whitewater' proves. More akin to that of Adrift For Days than the previously mentioned drawn-out drone of Omahara, Cascades self-titled release is an exploration of dark, progressive sludge, at times gnashing post-hardcore, and more often than not, a flirtation with instrumental passages of dissonant, noisy post-rock. This happens via mid-tempo, bass-driven, heavy riffs meshing together underneath atmospheric textures of layered melodic, tremolo guitars, analogue synthesisers, glockenspiels (see both 'Ceaseless' and 'Whitewater' for that contrasting instrumental glory), all with chunky, booming drum grooves anchoring this bleak musical chaos. But Cascades aren't just another instrumental band, as their vocalist's Australian-tinged, coarse singing and devilish, throaty roars prove otherwise. The quintet's sprawling, crushing sound also makes some very big nods towards that of instrumental kings Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the doom-sound of Neurosis and the thundering aggression of Converge - albeit with a much slower tempo reigning the songs in than the latter band.

That being said, Cascades really do pick up the pace with a song like 'Divide', of which the band slowly drudge back down over the course of its eight-minute runtime. But it's the releases standout piece, the monolithic 'Cold Bloom', where this local band compacts all of their encompassing dissonant and melodic sounds into three minutes and twenty-five seconds; showing that such music still works fine and can still make an impact without a finish line far-off in the distance. Closer 'Yearn' folds back upon the churning sounds of the opening tracks and compliments them strongly by climbing to some truly grand crescendo's, before the song springs into life with a hurried death metal-esque section that adds the final full-stop to Cascades solid and harrowingly doomy statement; with the listener being left with the cold, isolating comfort of fading feedback.

Straight up, Cascades debut LP is like the end of the world, except you're listening to it.

Favourite songs: 'Ceaseless', 'Yearn', 'Whitewater'. 

4. Plyers - 'Clear'

Favourite songs: 'Healing', 'Ownersupporter'. 

You can find more info about Art As Catharsis as well as their full catalogue of killer and diverse releases here.