Homecoming, whose very moniker speaks to their desire to evoke an emotional response in their listener — no matter who you are or what it is, you feel some way about the notion of going home — will release their second album this Spring. Titled Those We Knew as if to underscore the evocative point, the six-song outing follows late-2019’s LP01 (review here) and is the band’s first for UK imprint Copper Feast Records, which snagged the band this past summer following their appearance at Desertfest London 2023.

The Parisian four-piece draw as much from progressive metal as progressive heavy rock, and they meet the nine-minute urgency-parade of “Tell Me Something” at the album’s outset with the slower creep into volume of the subsequent “Red Rose,” which begins acoustic and follows a linear course of emotive heavy focused more in the melodic flow where the song prior spun heads on the way to, well, spinning more. Elements recognizable from the likes of Mastodon, Neurosis, maybe even Paris’ own Abrahma or similarly textured units given to shimmering guitars like those heard in “Gift of Eyes,” which premieres below and closes the record.

It’s not a minor journey to get there as regards acquiring bumps and bruises, but Homecoming offer encouragement along the way and the scope of “Tell Me Something,” the smoothness with which it departs its earlier aggro-isms for more atmospheric fare before building back up around blackened squigglies and a chugging rush, sets up (and fulfills) any expectation or anticipation for breadth one might have. Like the music propelling them, the vocals are dynamic, switching between lower-register cleans and harsher growls. By the time “Gift of Eyes” lays out its headspinning course, Homecoming have already brought that melodic style into focus on “Red Rose,” set up the bright-toned intertwining leads of “Blood of My Blood” as well as its screaming payoff, subtly reaffirmed their penchant for ironic titles with “Interlude II” at 9:02 (though some days we all need a nine-minute interlude), and landed in the 11-minute “Shores.”

The latter pushes guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Théo Alves Guiter, guitarist/backing vocalist Renaud Fumey-Seguy, bassist Basile Chevalier and drummer Theo Giotti about as far they go, but there’s another level of intensity reserved for “Gift of Eyes,” the position of which as the closer after “Shores” would make it an epilogue were it not so forcefully delivered. Pairing the melodic singing and contorting riffery gives the track a particularly progressive feel even among its compatriots, and with lyrical mention of symmetry to boot, Homecoming tie that proggy urgency back to the start of Those We Knew before dropping everything.

Minimalism and consumption follow, in that order, to end the record. Homecoming let go of the angularity that brought them through the first half of “Gift of Eyes” and dig into quiet standalone guitar, but the explosion is coming and they rightly saved the more extreme barks for the second half. Speaking of epilogues, though, “Gift of Eyes” has its own in the subdued, sweetly contemplative guitar that ends after the assault has subsided. Like “Tell Me Something New,” or “Shores,” or hell, even “Interlude II,” it’s kind of an album unto itself.

So much the better that you can hear it here. Comment from the band and info from the PR wire follows.

Please enjoy:

Théo Guiter on “Gift of Eyes”:

This tune is a treatise of the hubris of which man is capable, the folly of attempting to grasp the infinite and the possibility of stumbling upon something far greater, as incomprehensible in its immensity as in its designs. Each glance demands a sacrifice, a gift.

Lyrics:
Light, filtered through bars
Can’t conceal the stars
Demented by the erudite scroll I correlate it all

Halls carved in strange stone, The symmetry is wrong
Thrown into this cell
Entombed in waking hell
Demented by the effort of it all
Don’t let me fall asleep

Halls hewn in strange stone, The symmetry is gone

Now the walls they grow and writhe
I hear the wails of thousand lives
Calling me there
Anywhere’s better than here

Now they seem to carry on
To conclude their fateful song
Calling me home
Take my eyes for your throne

Wrenching the macula brings no anguish
Keeping these is all but useless
Adorn the vitreous wreath with this gift of eyes

Light
Eyes on the inside
This my gift to you
Borne to spy the space between the veil and and all that we were meant to see

New album ‘Those We Knew’
Out April 19th 2024 on Copper Feast Records
LP, CD, download and streaming

The album reveals the band’s well-honed personality, fusing grunge, 90s rock and progressive metal. “Those We Knew” showcases remarkable vocal work that guides the listener through various musical tableaux. The vocals adapt to the moods and unite the tracks, tying together the influences. The gloomy, heavy, sometimes hushed 90s tones collide with endless imagination, peppered by ethereal atmospheres, enticing introspection.

TRACK LISTING ‘THOSE WE KNEW’
1. Tell Me Something
2. Red Rose
3. Blood Of My Blood
4. Interlude II
5. Shores
6. Gift Of Eyes

Lyrics composed by Theo Alves Guiter
Mixed and mastered by Francis Caste at Sainte-Marthe Studios, Paris.
Artwork by Vaderetro Studios

Produced by Noon Brings The Fire
Distributed by Copper Feast Records
Promoted by Shake Promotion

Homecoming are:
Voices : Théo Alves Guiter
Backing vocals : Théo Alves Guiter, Renaud Fumey-Seguy
Guitars : Théo Alves Guiter, Renaud Fumey-Seguy
Bass : Basile Chevalier
Drums : Theo Giotti (“Atc De Giotto”)

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Tags: Copper Feast Records, France, Homecoming, Homecoming Those We Knew, Paris, Those We Knew

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024 at 5:39 am and is filed under audiObelisk, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.