It is always impressive when the doors to the “Church of Ra” open up, even more so when frontrunner Amenra presents new work. With their previous full-lengths, these Belgians managed to dominate Zware Metalen’s yearlists, and after last year’s Skunk adventure, the gentlemen continue to build on this masterful path with two EPs.
De Toorn is undoubtedly the calmest of the two, but that may be a misconception with Amenra. Once again, on Heden, the fragility that the acoustic narrative brings creeps up on me. It intertwines with Colin Van Eeckhout’s poetry into a dreamy depth to break loose after roughly ten minutes, as it very characteristically did on songs like De evenmens in the recent past. Very characteristic thus in structure, with crafty transitions in the guitar layers and a solid thirteen minutes long in which not a single note is too much. De Toorn (Talisman) is perhaps slightly atypical of the band, with a repetitive note section and bass layer systematically building in intensity on which Van Eeckhout delivers its lyrics in spoken word. The variation added to the musical narrative keeps you enthralled. Clever also how, after roughly eight minutes, the story is drawn to higher realms. Although you know the explosion is coming, it gives you chills time and again when the hammer falls.
This is something only Amenra can do. Without a doubt, of the two EPs that were released De Toorn is the one that resembles their older work the most: with a fragile silence, accompanied with deep lyrics that – towards the end – sink into the dark vortex of melancholy.
Label:
Relapse Records, 2025
Tracklisting:
- Heden
- De Toorn (talisman)
Line-up:
- Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove – Guitar
- Colin H. Van Eeckhout – Vocals
- Bjorn J. Lebon – Drums
- Lennart Bossu – Guitar
- Tim De Gieter – Bass, vocals
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