ALBUM REVIEW: The Language of Limbs (re-release) – Constellatia

South African CONSTELLATIA bring their take on shoegaze, post metal and black metal ideas to bring their debut record The Language of Limbs.  Founding members Gideon Lamprecht and Keenan Oakes, having worked together for more than fifteen years through other projects, wanted this record to be the culmination of their musical talents and the desire to make something dark and beautiful.

Initial track All Nights Belong To You boasts a strong start, ambient guitars rising and falling from tranquil, contemplative motions into more broad lingering chords. The drums are instantly black metal in feel, double bass relentlessly crushing. As the song moves from bare shoegaze into a more folk inspired lulling, clean female vocals are underpinned by the throaty growls as the rising wave of sound pushes back into the post-metal, black metal ambiences.

Now the tone is set, In Acclamation has the opportunity to relax into it’s subdued, melancholy. There’s an initial sense of calm, but after a few minutes, as the tempo shifts and the drums find their feel again, so too do the guitars move into a huge washing cloud that sprinkle through the rasping vocals. The contrast in rhythms to melody are the perfect juxtaposition to each other, the unyielding to the beautiful. As is expected, the moments where the drums give way into a full post-rock feel are soaked in lush reverb and choral cleanness, are a moment of clarity. The shift back into something harder is deftly done, as the intensity between melodies sways and clashes against one another. A tide of emotional responses can be felt through this one, and given its extensive run time, it’s a track to mellow into and allow your mind to wonder in.

In an effortless flow, we emerge into Empyrean, the loftiest output on The Language of Limbs. It’s much more punishing that before, the melody almost drowning in the mass of blastbeats pummelling through. The sense of intention here is unquestionable, the crisp guitars singing lonely and hopeful, the vocals ranging from morose to strained and passionate. When things simmer down, it’s not with a sense of clarity, but with a heavy poignancy and loss that really weighs in with every laboured snare and hissing symbol. When we finally trudge through that intense low, the sense of melancholy is staggering.

Pulling more towards the shoegaze side of their sound once more, the sparse opening with quiet female vocals and shimmering delayed guitars introduces The Garden. It’s a departure from the immense highs and lows, but a more tranquil sway into a hazy dream state, barking snare snapping sparsely, chords lingering bar after bar. The transition into a more fully realised track comes in small motions, in a bubbling rise of drums and a rasp of harsh vocals, desperately trying to break through.

The textures throughout the track are the amalgamation of all the best parts throughout the album; a humble lead melody that carries through the inexorable drums, the overall effect as the melody shifts and the patterns of music seem to feel like a shift in seasons or time. We get a beautiful solo riff that cuts through as more significant than anything else we’ve come across on the record. It pushes a new kind of urgency and story telling through the music of CONSTELLATIA, and renegades the listener for the sonic tapestry that’s being woven. Bleak and wailing, stomping, swaying and malevolent, pained; this combination of black metal and shoegaze is just a testament to the kind of emotional playing that can come from a more ambient background and the qualities that can be achieved.

CONSTELLATIA are the kind of band that can hone into a sense of melancholy and beauty without you even being aware how effective they’re being. Subtle shifts in direction and momentum allow for The Language of Limbs to concoct a mass of intense lows and highs that signal the contrast of hope and despair throughout their combination of shoegaze and black metal. It’s a great body of work that encapsulates the deftness of musicianship between the band.

Rating: 7/10

The Language of Limbs (re-release) is out now via Season of Mist.

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