Review & Full Album Premiere: Gavran, Indistinct Beacon
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 30th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Post-metallic scathebringers Gavran release their second full-length, Indistinct Beacon, this Friday Dec. 2 through Dunk!records. The Rotterdam-based trio of vocalist/drummer Jamie Kobić, guitarist Freek van Rooyen and bassist Ritsaart Vetter debuted in 2020 with Still Unavailing, and the return appearance brings an additional song with five longform tracks instead of four and an accompanying expansion of atmosphere. Crush-tone guitar and bass meet with floating melodic vocal drone and throatripping screams as aspects of black metal, sludge, post-metal and more besides come together in an identity that is abidingly dark but not totally void of hope. It is a sound that, given proper volume, will surround the listener on all sides with its heft, and that even in the somewhat inevitable-feeling ambient breaks, maintains its grim viewpoint.
The first element introduced on opener “Dvorac” (9:50) is the guitar, and the drums join soon after, setting up the burst to full volume soon enough to take place. An undulating riff takes hold that becomes the central nod of the piece, and before they’re two minutes in, the verse is underway, clean vocals echoing out their first impression from suitably deep in the mix, the bass-fueled largesse making the human presence seem that much smaller in this dark otherworld. Screams aren’t far behind, but one wouldn’t call Gavran impatient in their presentation. It is a methodical unfolding, not hurried. This too becomes one of the main aural themes of Indistinct Beacon; a fluidity that carries across from one part, one song to the next, and though they’re prone to interrupting themselves — who isn’t? — there’s a consciousness underlying their craft such that the midsection break in “Dvorac” conveys its temporariness outright. They know they’re coming back hard, you know it, and when it hits, it’s no less satisfying for that, an admirably-throated scream leading the way once more unto the rolling morass.
“Talas” (10:06) is only 16 seconds longer than the leadoff, but feels purposefully placed in the tracklisting for symmetry as Gavran alternate between nine-minute and 10-plus-minute tracks; three of the former, two of the latter. In any case, it is a substantial lurch. The vocals take a somewhat Jesu-ian tack, and come through as emotive despite the fury of the screams that complement/swallow-whole (depending on how you look at it) with the accompanying riff a march almost in spite of itself. They seem to push deeper shortly before three minutes in, but the pace is still purposeful and emphasizes each strum, thud, rumble. The snap to sparse and soft guitar (at 3:23) isn’t telegraphed, which is a bonus, and it functions as the bottom of a build that comes all the way back just before the song hits its eighth minute. This is the pattern, the back and forth, but some standout shimmer-guitar in the final moments of “Talas” as they head toward Indistinct Beacon‘s centerpiece “Dim” (9:18) lets the listener know Gavran still haven’t necessarily played their full hand, and the speedier push that ensues, definitively post-metallic, manifests a sense of controlled chaos that feels like what “Talas” was working all along to set up.
So be it. “Dim” takes a structural sidestep from “Dvorac” and “Talas” in pushing its quiet part deeper into the procession, but it’s still there, and particularly as compared to “Talas,” it feels like the threat of the reprisal invariably to follow is never gone. Gavran, obviously schooled in European post-metal, take those tenets unto their own, and it is the bending of stylistic tropes to their will that distinguishes them, as well as the fluidity of their overarching groove and the not-nascent-but-developing dynamic of clean and harsh vocals. Some tremolo hints at black metal near “Dim”‘s midpoint, but they ride their momentum well into the brief respite before, in righteous doom fashion, coming back slower and sounding that much heavier for it, vocals taking on a likewise nasty form. In this way, the quiet start of the penultimate “Duhovi” (11:05) is even more an example of how Indistinct Beacon is purposefully laid out, since the subdued start and buildup feels very much like it’s meant to follow the ending of “Dim” before, each song having its own presence but clearly intended to bolster each other; a classic method put to use well in service to Gavran‘s declarations.
“Duhovi” is a highlight and holds back its screams until the ending, a kind of restraint that the band haven’t yet shown that results in more of a heavygaze vibe, though in the context of its surroundings it’s not necessarily a departure in atmosphere so much as a lean toward a different side of the approach they’ve already been using. Still, it works well across Indistinct Beacon‘s longest inclusion, and allows for a flow that’s a standout and all the more hypnotic in its repetitions of riff, feeling both like a conscious choice and something of a developmental milestone for Gavran; perhaps a harbinger of things to come. It is in only in the last 30 seconds of the song that a measure or two is scream-topped, and as closer “Pesak” (9:22) offers its first lighter strums before everybody clicks on their pedals, the flash of the visceral is a prime transition. With “Pesak,” the call is to summarize and wrap up, the pointed sub-shove culminating in layers of harsh and clean vocals together at last, after the requisite break resumes in duly consuming fashion for a whole-record finale, after which they cap with a momentary epilogue of quiet guitar. This too, passing.
As we move into what used to pass for winter around where I live, I find the gray skies and dry-skin-cracking on my knuckles a fitting setting to welcome Indistinct Beacon. It’s a cliché to call post-metal cold-feeling, but the manner in which Gavran create space throughout this sophomore LP can almost certainly see its own breath, and if I note its darkness again, it’s only because the material is dark enough that it bears repeating. Nonetheless, the considered, thoughtful nature of composition on the trio’s part comes through the rawness of even their most turbulent stretches, and they sound most of all like a band who know what they want to bring forth from themselves and their expressive, often punishing take. To say it plainly, they are of microgenre and finding ways to push those boundaries where one ends and another starts, turning that process into identity as they go. Indistinct Beacon, then, is both somber and brutal.
I’m glad to be able to host the full album stream below. You’ll find it followed by more PR wire background on the band, in blue as always.
Thanks and enjoy:
Gavran was conceived in the fall of 2017, during a time when we (guitarist Freek van Rooyen and drummer/vocalist Jamie Kobić) were desperately looking for something to hold on to. With Ritsaart Vetter joining on bass in October 2018 our first significant line-up was formed.
Their debut album “Still Unavailing” was released in March 2020 and was well received. Drawing inspiration from bands like Neurosis, YOB and Amenra and being mixed/produced by Tim de Gieter (Amenra, Doodseskader) the album sounds massive, heavy and emotive. Being released during covid times the record was the perfect soundtrack for living in isolation. “Still Unavailing” was also nominated for album of the year in their homecity Rotterdam.
After their hard hitting debut “Still Unavailing” Gavran now returns with “Indistinct Beacon”. Again working with Tim de Gieter (Amenra, Doodseskader) and with a finishing touch from Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker,…), the band shows a more melodic side on their second full length without losing the impact of their first record. Drawing from many related genres, seamlessly combining elements from doom, sludge, shoegaze and post-rock.
