The self-released, self-titled debut full-length from Columbus, Ohio’s Before the Eyewall is the kind of record that’s going to surprise a lot of people who hear it in a very positive way, and by that I mean it’s really fucking heavy. An instrumental guitar, synth, bass and drums three-piece, the band formed early in 2010 after drummer Aaron O’Brien-Eichman and guitarist Garrett LoConti (both also provide synth) split from the post-metal outfit Kenoma (one might recall their 2006 split with Mouth of the Architect) and issued an ambitious 25-minute single-track demo in 2011 and joined forces with engineer Brian Whitten to capture the sonic largesse of the four-song, 43-minute Before the Eyewall, an album whose intricacy is telegraphed by its artwork. Featuring bassist Scott Hyatt alongside O’Brien-Eichman and LoConti, the band runs through three extended tracks and a concluding section of ambience across the course of “Skyrises” (9:18), “Path of Ash and Desperation” (15:52), “Tome of the Concentric Eye” (14:24) and “Skyfalls” (3:28), finding symmetry in its first and last titles and no shortage of tectonic aural crush in between. There are elements of post-metal lurking about in some of the ambient/heavy switchoffs and tidal riffy plod, but even at their most atmospheric, Before the Eyewall don’t succumb to the trap of redundancy in which so much latter-day post-metal is caught, “Skyrises” leading off with a fitting build of feedback hum and cymbal wash before LoConti announces the start of the lurching, angular progression with guitar howl and deep Sunn-amped tonality counteracted by the airier lead work that ensues. Smoothly and patiently, they unfold the interwoven heavy and ambient changes and tempo shifts that will mark the bulk of the next three tracks, repeating parts but never really announcing any singular movement as the chorus or leaving anything unchanged. Still, the flow they create over the course of the nine minutes of “Skyrises” is remarkable and the quiet intro to “Path of Ash and Desperation” suitably hypnotic, giving a sense of tension even at its stillest points.

With the extended runtimes of “Path of Ash and Desperation” and “Tome of the Concentric Eye” and the bookending effect of the titles “Skyrises” and “Skyfalls,” it’s hard not to think of the half-hour plus the middle two tracks represent as the “meat” of Before the Eyewall’s Before the Eyewall, though neither the opener nor the closer lack substance. Still, it you’re going to get lost anywhere within the full-length, it’s probably somewhere in the two longest cuts, the first of which launches after the two-minute mark into a heavy-stomping lumber of a groove that persists and introduces a kind of post-Mastodon (though played much slower) sense of weight before coming to a head and transitioning into a more ambient movement as it makes its way past eight minutes. The atmosphere remains dark without being cartoonish, and the stage is set for an increasingly noisy build that plays out over the course of the second half of the song, Hyatt’s bass rumble at the fore while LoConti’s guitar tosses out atmospheric notes prior to a stop and then resurgence of the full-bore crashing, one more shift into psychedelic ambience and then a faster, concluding push that winds up one of the album’s most memorable riffs, given its due over the course of the last two minutes before stopping cold to make way for “Tome of the Concentric Eye,” which resets the band’s position and essentially starts the build over from scratch. Here too, Before the Eyewall take their time in unfurling the complete heft of the song, but in the meantime, the interplay of LoConti’s guitar and Hyatt’s bass is the best of the record and O’Brien-Eichman does well in holding the progression together with a slow march, ride cymbal flourish and a tension that finds its answer in a slowly chugging riff contrasted by bass melody (yes, it exists) and guitar echoes reminiscent of some of Leviathan’s glorious noodling. There’s a break, as expected, and though the shift isn’t as smooth as the cut before, the effect remains strong thanks to O’Brien-Eichman’s ability to keep the piece in motion with rich cymbal work excellently captured and mixed and a structure to the following build reminiscent of “Path of Ash and Desperation” that remains distinct from it.

Of the three longer pieces on Before the Eyewall, I find the languid prog of in the second half of “Tome of the Concentric Eye” the most likely to claim the consciousness in listening, and though the song is definitely worth paying attention to as one makes one’s way through, it’s just more fun to let the flow of the gradual build carry on in a wash. They jump at 11:11 to a more insistent riff, breaking after a few measures to collect themselves similar to how the prior cut played out, before kicking back in for a noisier finish. Considering its relative brevity, the closing guitar and synth of “Skyfalls” still strikes as more than just an afterthought following the apex of “Tome of the Concentric Eye,” its ambience textured by far-back drumming and a slow-arriving buzz that threatens to take hold amid the melodic soundscape without ever going that far. It is consistent in mood with the rest of the album, but without any of the loud/quiet dynamic that the other songs possess, so basically serves as a concluding moment of contemplation for the band, perhaps heralding development to come or at least highlighting elements already at play subtly within Before the Eyewall’s approach. In either case, it’s satisfying considering the dynamics that have been worked out over the prior 40 minutes to have a final stretch to process and contextualize what’s come before and how it relates to the last statement, and though I find myself wishing for more of that kind of ambience throughout, I wouldn’t want to have it come either at the expense of the impact of the trio’s heavier parts or the linearity that “Path of Ash and Desperation” and “Tome of the Concentric Eye” are able to convey. So where to put it other than where it is, I don’t know, but as Before the Eyewall began piecing this material together over the course of 2010 and 2011, they’ve had some time to grow and I’ve no doubt that their next outing will provide and answer in the form of significant growth in their already impressive display of aesthetic. Their debut, in the meantime, makes a solid case to not be overlooked.

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Tags: Before the Eyewall, Before the Eyewall self-titled, Columbus, Ohio, self-titled, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.