024.5 - Spire - Temple of Khronos Notes

 

Chronometer - Alternating tones akin to a clock start off the album.  This isn't just a clock like you would hear in passing, this one has a sense of a countdown towards something ominous.  The way that it is produced really brings out a sense of dread.  That and the accompanying sound effects really build this up into something wicked.  By the end we have all sorts of distortion, guitars, subtle electronic effects and ultimately the clock.  The speed increases and increases until there is this horrible sense of whatever is hunting us has finally caught up.  We are now forced to face our doom.  Everything ends, and I get this picture of slowly turning around to face what has been chasing us as the track is silent and complacent in letting us face the horror to come.  Excellent intro.

Hymn I - Tyrant - With as insane as the buildup was in the first track I was expecting something to absolutely pulverize me.  Blast beats, insanely punishing riffs… something akin to war metal.  What I got was completely different.
The riff is incredibly heavy and mid paced.  Not what I expected in the slightest.  There is this dichotomy going on in the start of the song, we have a very strong basis for the song.  The riffs are solid and heavy and really give me something to focus in on.  And that is absolutely needed because the ancillary stuff is where this really starts becoming bizarre. The vocals are akin to throat singing mixed with gregorian chants, can’t say I’ve ever heard anything like this before.  The melody is also split between several guitars.  There is a slow haunting tone that demands attention but upon further listening I started to notice more guitar lines going on here.  
There is at least two other guitars playing complimenting roles during the course of the first minute or two.  As the song progresses they slowly add in more and more chaos into the mix that is super easy to miss unless you are paying attention.  The first one is a repeating tone of four notes that plays in the background starting right around 42 seconds and stays there.  There is also another dissonant tone that just wails in the background that I can’t tell when it enters, but man when I noticed that the first time it made me turn my head and really marvel at the amount of detail and layers that are in this first few minutes of the album.  All that said I can actually hear the bass a bit too, it compliments the rhythm guitar some but adds in a nice bottom end to the song and really fleshed it out, needless to say the way that this song started really superseded my expectations in the best way possible.  
The song begins to slowly decay a little bit around 1:30 and we get our first taste of proper black metal vocals.  Like the guitars they are done in multiple layers.  I really hope that this is a running theme for the album, it has a TON of meat to dig into and warrants repeated listens.  The whole thing reminds me of something lovecraft described while staring at one of the old elder gods.  There is something about this that our minds can’t properly process, but we are able to discern that there is something there but as much as we can tell that what it is (the bass and the main riff) there are alien elements that completely distort our perception and fuck with my head (the complimenting guitars and layers of vocals).  I LOVE this effect.
It's not until 3 minutes in that we really get our first taste of a blast beat and “proper” black metal riffing.  This is placed at just about the perfect place, because just when I had resigned myself that we were going to have a mid paced song throughout, they again threw me for a loop.  This is simply expert level manipulation of the listener.  
Man I cannot get over how many layers there are to this.  This is Abigor level of intricacy.  Multiple types of vocals at any given point in the song ranging from an ominous droning choir towards the end to the insanely tortured black metal wails during the blast.  Everything just fits together so well.  I’m fully enraptured by the horror that is staring at me after I turned around from the first track.  This is elite level music.

Hymn II - Tormentor - See now this is what I was expecting on the second track, just pummeling blast beats and dissonant tones wrapping me up in a whirlwind of chaos.  This is proper black metal, but with the elements described about the previous track.  
There is blasting here but it is restrained, I can tell that they are holding back.  The riffs mirror what we saw on the first track, a solid main riff followed by many complimenting guitar riffs and quite frankly noises.  There seems to be two separate main riffs going on, one coming out of each channel.  The one on the right ear has a slightly more melodic tone to it than the one on the left ear.  Though that could be just because it's playing higher register notes than the right channel.  Again, if I wasn't wearing headphones I never would have noticed the detail and the levels of care that were put into creating the whole experience here.  There is an insane amount of small minute details that are all brought together to make this seem normal, but in reality it is anything but.  I think even around 1 minute I hear some keyboards, very very deep in the mix and it's just something akin to a synth pad to add an extra layer of depth.  Even if it's not there the illusion that it is makes me smile.  
The vocals again are done in much the same fashion as the guitars are.  They are chaotic and varied, oftentimes having multiple layers going at once.  They truly resemble the ramblings of a madman, not too unlike something Attilla would do in his more recent Mayhem appearances.  Don’t get me wrong, these are completely their own thing but that's about the level of insanity that is going on here.  
Right around 1:24 the first major change comes in the song.  The blasting stops and the riffs take on a much more dissonant tone, repeating similar themes over and over until finally shifting up a fifth (maybe a 4th, can't entirely tell) right at around 2 minutes before going back into the blasting section. This part is important because it gives the listener just a few moments to take in everything that's been going on to this point.  This is a cacophony of chaos and it needs these small breaks so that the listener can truly understand everything that is going on around them.  
By 2:15 the blasting is back and damn I love some of the subtle symbol work that is going on here.  Instead of full on fills there are small little variances on the high hat or the ride that just show anyone who really wants to pay attention that the drummer is varying things up in one of the best ways possible.  Some of my favorite things in extreme metal are drummers that know what they are doing and really add their own touch to the music.  These small touches may not sound like much but they breathe life and character into an instrument that can be so boring if just played by the numbers.  
The chaos continues until about 3:45 when things slowly begin to decay.  This is nearly ambient in the way that it is executed.  Its certainly has a meditative quality to it with the way that the vocals repeat over and over going from channel to channel.  The guitars are pulled way back here with only one or two guitar lines going at any one point and some subtle keys really help maintain the wall of sound effect that has been going on in all of the music to this point.  
The song decays further at 5 minutes and teases that something horrible is going to be coming shortly.  Shortly after a MASSIVE riff enters accompanied by the vocals of a madman crying out in delirium.  This may be one of my favorite parts of the album.  The combination of vocals and that huge riff is something that always grabs my attention.  Even when listening casually I have to stop what I’m doing and look over and acknowledge how fucking sweet this section is.  
The riff continues and the manmans vocals continue into insanity eventually ending up wailing in pure horror.  This transition is done exceptionally well, its smooth and really captures what it may be like to descend into your own self made hell.  The chaos just slowly increases and increases and the vocals just punctuate everything and give it physical form.
After the transition is complete around 6 minutes the song goes into almost a galloping groove, we’ve now settled into our insanity.  Ironically this section till about 6:40 is about as tame as the song gets, maybe its a sign of acceptance that we are no longer sane? I don’t know but its really interesting the dichotomy set up by the Spire guys here.  The most insane part of the song is followed by the most structured and traditional part of the song.  
The song continues a transition into a completely insane breakdown.  I call it a breakdown because I don’t have a better word for it.  This isn’t truly a breakdown in the traditional sense, this is more like the song is crumbling to dust.  From 7 minutes till about 8:30 the song just loses itself bit by bit until there is almost nothing left. Only to transition into a near death metal riff paired with wails and screams.  
The outro is heavy as hell.  The same riff repeats over and over over shouted choirs that seem to be calling back from a single voice.  The single voice will call out and then a choir will shout back at the voice.  Again there are a few keys here to flesh out the sound.  This whole thing really just feels like a descent into madness or hell or whatever tormenting place you find yourself in.  The title is very apt.  This song isn't a song… it's a journey.  Not a second of the 10+ minutes is wasted.  Every detail is well planned and thought out.  Next level stuff.

Hymn III - Harbinger - Finally! Finally, they let the chains off and just go full blast.  This moment has been building from the instant that the album started.  Every song hinting that there is a fury that is being restrained and that whatever is holding it back is slowly losing its power.  At the very moment the song begins that beast is fully unleashed.  
The blasting here is completely unrestrinaed unlike Tormentor, the riffs are here to rip your fucking face off and the vocals are wails of a tortured man.  Nothing in the album so far has sounded like this, and I’m glad that they waited this long to truly let loose.  There is a simplicity to his as well, there are not four different guitar leads going at any point, there is only two guitars (that I can discern) that are playing similar riffs but are off just a little bit.  The intensity here is akin to war metal/death metal.  
The first 90 seconds of the song go between two very simple riffs, maybe one or two notes each.  One in the lower register, and then alternating to another riff a couple of octaves above.  The lower register one really is the brutal one while the higher one sounds probably the most pure black metal that this album has sounded to this point.  Mostly minor chords repeated almost adonasium.  
The first major change happens at 2:06, taking the song in a decidedly melodic direction.  The blasting remains but the lead guitar has this eerie not progression with a bit of delay or reverb on the guitars that gives it an otherworldly quality.  The other major change here is the vocals.  They are fully discernable.  It's as if the madman is able to speak his thoughts clearly.  
The rhythm guitar retains the same brutality as the beginning of the song but you can tell that the song is morphing from all of the new elements.  At 2:28 the blasting finally stops and moves us more into a mid tempo pace.  The rhythm guitar goes into more of a chugging pattern here indicating that we are indeed moving away from the insanity of the beginning.  
At 2:52 the change is really complete, taking us from a place of brutality to one of almost introspection.  The melody is likely the clearest we’ve had on the album so far and the bass is super audible and is playing its own melodies to compliment the guitars.  
This is the end of the falling action.  The song slowly builds up in momentum over the course of the next minute and by the 4 minute mark the song is blasting again and ripping my face off.  The vocals are really a standout here.  During the rising action the vocalist goes through some throat singing as well as other techniques that are all over the map, just adding to the absolute insanity that is this song.  
By the end of the song we’ve traveled through the peaks and valleys of a madman's mind.  Rage, confused rambling, focused hatred, and finally a combination of it all.  This song really brings everything from the first half of the album together and wraps it up with an exclamation point like none other.  Great song and perfect placement on the album.

Interlude - Antithesis - This comes at about the perfect place in the album.  After getting my face ripped off and taken through tons of different phases of insanity I needed a break.  This song is that break, though not a calm one.  Its surprisingly focused for how all over the place the rest of the album has been to this point, and I feel like this is the sister song to the intro to the album.  It harkens back to the clock that is ticking, and pulls together the theme of the album.  Kronos - the titan of time.
The whole endeavour is over in three minutes and it consists of a single riff the entire time with some of the throat singing vocals overlaid.  Right at 1:52 the song adds in some percussion and some dissonant chords but the backing riff is still there.  It starts building into something almost exactly like the first track began to build up.  The whole thing feels like a nice callback to the way that the album started, and it harkens in the second part of the album.

Hymn IV - Puissant - This is probably my favorite track on here.  It's starkly different from nearly everything else to this point, except maybe the melodic portion of Harbinger.  At the start of the song everything has that sense that this is the start of something big, something epic.  The song takes this and plays with it over the first two minutes.  
The drums have almost a plodding feel like we are being transported somewhere perhaps even against our will.  This just makes me want to close my eyes and let the song take me wherever it wants to.  It's really the antithesis of everything that has come so far, this is focused and extremely melodic.  I think if all of the songs were written in this fashion the album would lose a lot of its appeal, but by making one of the last songs on the album melodic (yet still dissonant) the impact is ten times greater, again completely destroying any expectations that would have been set by the first five tracks of the album.  If anything this reminds me of the melodic sections of Deathspell Omega, though not exactly… This is slower and more deliberate.  But it has that same brooding atmosphere, that sense that we are in a familiar place but something is deathly wrong.  The familiarity coming from the melody but there is that constant dissonance underneath that just keeps the song feeling on edge, and consistently excellent.
The chanted vocals at the start of the song also lend to this whole sense of brooding familiarity.  Maybe the first if not one of the first point where the vocals are actually in a melodic key and not off on a tortured scream of a madman.  This really makes them stand out, actually everything stands out in a positive way when the song starts, again just because it's so different from everything that’s been presented to us so far.  
Right around 2 minutes the song shifts into near ambience.  There's no distorted guitars, only clean electric guitars strumming chords.  The vocals again are chanted accompanied by more typical black metal screams.  Any percussion is dropped, and I get this sense that we are staring at a monolithe like structure in awe as it towers before us.  
After about 30 seconds the song settles into a slow pace as the percussion is reintroduced.  There is a huge echo on everything that lends to the immense sound on everything.  The chanting paired with the vocals is just absolutely amazing, almost awe inspiring.  The guitar lead that comes in after is soaring and just takes everything to new heights.  Holy shit this is good.  
When the whole song comes back together around 4 minutes, everything fits together.  The chanted vocals, the melodic leads, the huge chords for backing.  There is a singular focus here and its only been building since the start of the song.  This is way more focused than the band has been throughout the entire album so far and it's terrifying.
At 5 minutes the song begins to pick up and the feeling that something terrible is coming washes over me.  A spoken passage harkens the evil that is coming, and finally at 5:56 the song explodes.  Everything has been leading to this moment, the song is finally free to express the utter rage and chaos that has been building for six minutes… and then it stops.  Its 20 seconds long and its the perfect climax to a nearly perfect song.  
The song begins to decay with chanted vocals and chords that were played earlier in the song.  Everything is revisited but its quickly crumbling down, everything is being destroyed.  Holy shit this is a good ending to the song.  In my humble opinion this should have been the way that the album closed, it's so final and it's done so well that everything just fits.  10/10 song.

Hymn V - Khronos - The final track, the title track.  All of the best metal albums put the title track as the last one.  This one is no different.  Though I don’t know how you follow up the insanity that was Puissant.  
The song starts with a huge chord and vocals calling out something as a declaration.  It's as if standing on a mountain top and declaring your existence to the universe.  I am he, he would bring you salvation.  It has a hugely religious feeling to it, almost as if a preacher was giving a sermon to a demonic congregation.  The riffing is minimal, really only punctuating the vocals.  The vocals are 100% the vocal point here
This continues for nearly 2 minutes before the music begins to pick up.  The music falls out of the punctuating form that it was in and morphs into this more fluid state.  The guitars are now playing actual riffs and the drums have adopted a more plodding, consistent pace.  The vocals are now part of the equation instead of being the vocal point.  
Everything is melded together in very much the same way that Tyrant was, though less intense.  There are guitar leads everywhere, there are different melodies and notes played and hidden in layers.  The vocals are layered and in multitudes.  More and more is added to the equation.  This truly feels like the end of a journey the further we get into the song.
The last two tracks really both have that ‘end of the album’ type feel to it.  I was worried the first few times I listened to this that it wouldn't be able to live up to the incredible legacy of track 6, but it does manage to close out the album in a very satisfying way.  
The song continues to grow and grow with more elements being added in until the 5th minute when the song seems to pause to make a final statement before fading into oblivion.  A full choir of voices accompanies the main vocalist as we are dragged down into the pits of insanity with him.  This is an excellent way to end the album.  The riff that is introduced at 5:22 really just nails home how great everything to this point has been, it's heavy and carries a weight to it that not much in the album has to this point.  Excellent closing track.  This or track 6 could have finalized the album perfectly, and I see why they did what they did here.  

Overall - This thing is massive.  Its like being taken on a trip of a madman who is going through his own levels of hell and we are given a front row seat.  The song order is nearly perfect, especially the first 5 tracks.  The tracks continue to get more and more chaotic until they blow up with Harbinger.  I absolutely love the pacing.
The last two tracks have a finality to them that either one of them could have closed out the album.  Both feel like they belong at the end, and both are some of the strongest tracks on the album, especially track 6 and how focused it is over its 8 minute playtime.  I absolutely love that song, and in the context of the album its one of the best songs I’ve heard in metal for quite some time.  This whole thing is top ten worthy and its going to be hard to top in the metal genre this year.  
Special mention needs to go to the vocals.  These are absolutely insane.  There are at least a dozen different vocal techniques used throughout the album and each one is used to maximum effect.  This album as a whole would be severely lacking if a more traditional vocal approach was used.  This album is going to be amazing to review, and I’m glad it will be my first full on metal review.