Oh, no, please, don’t even try to peg Richmond,
Virginia, duo Among the Rocks and Roots. There’s so much shift here that
pinning down the band would be a fool’s errand. Ostensibly metal, ATRAR mix in
so many other different styles and elements that you’re guessing almost as
constantly as you’re reaching for the rewind button, ready to relive one weird
and incredible passage after another. And you’re dealing with passages, not
tracks. The four compositions on Raga stretch
for a total of 90 minutes. That’s … a lot of music per track.
Death metal and crust collide with hardcore and
noise rock, plus a heavy dose of atmosphere that would sound out of place on a
hidden Melvins track (those drums can get so airy!). You gotta fill
twenty-minute-long tracks with something other
than massive riffs and galloping beats, right? We can’t all be Olympic athletes. So ATRAR get
positively shamanic between bouts of chaos, floating meditatively over liquid
bass and introducing positively sing-song vocals (see “War Song”) or an
ethereal guest spot (Laura Merina on “Salvation”). It all feels like an
enormous pagan ritual celebrating the decay of the world or the reversion to
simpler means. At any rate, Raga is a
triumph of musicianship, and the untraceable pathways blazed through it reveal
delightful surprises at every turn.
--Ryan
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