ALBUM REVIEW: V: Bones of the Extinct – Late Night Venture
It’s been said that post-metal is a genre easy to do, but hard to do well. That holds true, to an extent; there’s plenty of bands that make good, dependable post-metal, but a relative dearth that reach the upper echelons of the genre. Danish outfit LATE NIGHT VENTURE have, for four albums, stolidly churned out the former of those; with less prominent vocals and longer instrumental passages and occasional segues into more post-rock territories. With their fifth album, the aptly-titled V: Bones Of The Extinct, the aim is clear: state their case for not just longevity, but remembrance.
Notably, this is also their first album since the conclusion of a trilogy focused on the cosmos that ended with their fourth album, 2019’s Subcosmos. The band’s stated aim is to make their songwriting far more direct, which with post-metal is certainly a challenge given its often languishing runtimes and penchant for slow ebb and flow, build and release dynamics. This also means those post-rock segues are downplayed, but there are still little tinges of them here and there, as well as the occasional moment of gothic gloom, particularly around the spoken word passages.
The stated aim of directness is certainly achieved; at six tracks and 40 minutes, it’s densely packed, cramming as much of that build and release into it as possible within the shortened (by post-metal standards) timeframe. Not every song is compressed, though. Opener Hostile Nature makes the most of its near-eight minutes, slowly burning from a subdued open to bellowing post metal that wouldn’t sound out of place on a bill with Belgian legends AMENRA. The backdrop of synth melodies and counter harmonies sets them apart here, though their inclusion sometimes feels more like texture for texture’s sake rather than adding something new to the pot. That’s particularly true of their seemingly sci-fi, alien spaceship-esque noises in the aforementioned opener.
The first single from the album, Mammut, makes better use of those keys, adding a sense of cosmic foreboding to the bludgeoning guitars and guttural roars. It also employs one of the first true moments of quiet since the opening seconds, allowing for breathing space and a chance to build back up to a calamitous volume. That build, likely as a result of the album’s brevity, also suffers from not being long enough. Where other post-metal bands that employ these builds excel is in allowing them to grow organically, but Mammut feels forced.
Another bone to pick comes in the form of those previously mentioned spoken word sections; while they lend a certain gothic aura to the piece, they ultimately don’t feel necessary and seem to detract from the album as LATE NIGHT VENTURE continue to try and shoehorn an hour’s worth of ideas into two-thirds of the time. Reappear is a particularly egregious offender in its opening monologue. Hate Speech thankfully, in its eight-plus minutes both rectifies the problem of too short builds for a true album standout as it offers a far more emotionally cleansing experience, even with the faux chanting making a short, unnecessary return.
Ultimately, V: Bones Of The Extinct isn’t a bad album, by any stretch. The band’s aim to be more direct and focus on songwriting has paid off in part, with a shorter runtime making it easier to digest. Unfortunately, this also results in an overstuffing of the time they do have and for once, it feels like the album would have benefitted from being longer, or jettisoning those spoken word passages to further streamline the songs and make them less busy. The builds are certainly there, but don’t quite hit the same, and the payoff is lessened, but it’s still post-metal done solidly, and is a mostly-enjoyable listen.
Rating: 7/10
V: Bones Of The Extinct is set for release on March 17th via Trepanation Recordings and Vinyltroll Records.
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