|
 |
|
|
|
| Conifer - Crown Fire |
Sunday, February 15 2009 @ 01:00 AM PST
Contributed by: Romain Bonilla
Artist: Conifer  Title: Crown Fire Label: Important Records
Genre: Psychedelic Sludge
Track Listing:
01 Surface Fire
02 Cruciform Empennage
03 A History of Disappointments
04 Song for Krom
05 Breathe. Hold
06 Into the Gauntlet
07 Crown Fire
After listening to Conifer's "Crown Fire" for the first time, I found it evident that the band had chosen a terribly inadequate name. In my mind, this moniker represented a vegetative stance, void of the lively fire and fiery life of contemporary music. A name like Conifer also reflected somewhat of a lack of originality, a similitude to all of its peers, where individuality is lost in the landscape of a never ending pine forest. My expectations were therefore varied, and probably biased from the imagery I had made myself of the band
If one was to locate Conifer in a clear sky, where stars are acts and galaxies musical genres, it would be quite a tricky task. As every track unfolds, one would be forced to look new directions, and would probably lose their minds trying to pinpoint the exact location of Conifer
Most of “Crown Fire”, as an album, is instrumental. But the music
After listening to the album over and over again, it became more and more evident that the band
’s name. But not only that: those expectations were wrong.’s music on a musical map. Thankfully for all of us, music is much more abstract, and you simply have to sit back and enjoy the sludgy, intelligent compositions of this Maine-based band. If you enjoy Isis’s breed of post-metal, and the dissonance found in several underground rock movements, chances are high you will be fond to Conifer’s final product, both in influence-fusion and audio production. The composition creativity of post-rock, the repetitive and heavy riffing of sludge, the disharmony of noise rock, the tempos of stoner rock, and the mind-twisting sound sculptures found in psychedelic-influenced music are all to be found in Conifer’s grandiose and innovative showpiece.’s high density in intelligence and information would make lyrics and vocals excessive, distracting the listener from those incredible sound collages that can be found throughout the first six tracks of this record. But the album’s final track, also named “Crown Fire”, added a bizarre narrative over the dissonant post-metal riffing of the background. The composition of this title track appears to be much simpler than those of the previous tracks, which leaves the stage open for Eugene Robinson’s strange story to be told. In all reality, Eugene Robinson’s performance cannot really be referred to as “vocals”, although his monologue sometimes bursts into a mind-blowing scream. This monologue consists of a brilliantly written first-person narrative recalling the narrator’s successful attempt at manslaughter, followed by the victim’s rise from the dead. The music accompanies the emotions sent through the words in a very coherent fashion.’s name was actually perfectly accurate; what was erroneous was my personal vision of the image. Conifer, not unlike the trees of pine forests, stands out proudly over the fields of the sludge scene, with those clever details and minutely designed curves and angles, as well as its tough, solid sound, giving it the power to rise above those other, less gracious plants.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
