Photos: Locrian at the Talking Head

Photos by Chrissy

The only way to describe last night's performance by Chicago's Locrian, is intense. In all senses of the word, this set was surely not for the faint of heart.

With more fog than I've pretty much ever seen used, Andre and Terence tore through a journey of sonic metal drudgery. Locrian started with blasting noise which lead down to a quiter synth, only to be overtaken by some hefty guitar riffs, that eventually took off like a helicopter. Definiltey take a listen to their most recent release, Drenched Lands.

I unfortunately couldn't hang around for the awesome noisey punk of the New Flesh, but check out some shots of them opening for Double Dagger here. Also, they'll be playing Whartscape on Saturday in the MICA parking lot next to Joe Squared.

Locrian: Drenched Lands

Often some of the best records are the ones that manage to scare that crap out of you.

Chicago-based Locrian have been creating noise since 2005, with a couple handfuls of cassettes, CDRs and records already under their belt. Their newest release is dubbed Drenched Lands, and just dropped via At War With False Noise.

Heavily soaked in dark ideas and droning aspirations, the album seems to soundtrack long forgotten urban landscapes. One might throw the classification of black metal into the mix, but ambient noise is prevalent and melodic tones build to grandiose heights.

Walls of heavy electronics and doom-filled fuzz break way to epic guitar squalls that are certainly the band's strong suit. Quieter sonic moments round out an album that's steeped in gloom, showing signs of hope. Drenched Lands masters slow and steady inclinations of noise, and is absolutely necessary to listen to in its entirety.

You can catch Locrian open up for The New Flesh next week. They play the Talking Head on July 8th. The album is available now on compact disc, and will be released on clear vinyl on July 15th limited to 200 copies.