Review: Kerretta – “Vilayer”
When I think New Zealand bands, I think Flight Of The Conchords. When I think “instrumental prog-metal,” I think grayish-pinky exploded brain-matter all over the walls of my distinctively mahogany study. So I had high hopes going into New Zealand instrumental prog-metal band Kerretta’s debut full-length, Vilayer. While I’d like to say that this is some insane parody-folk/post-hardcore mash-up, I must honestly report that it’s fairly straight-forward instrumental-metal material. But that’s not a bad thing; Vilayer is a fine example of the genre. It’s a vacation for your mind -- a psychedelic journey to a land where unicorns frolic as black fire rains down from the sky.
I tend to worry, with this type of music, what I’ll do while I listen to it; to untrained ears (like mine), instrumental jams can get pretty dreary. But Kerretta never veer into outright wank territory -- the arrangements are intricate enough to prove ample forethought, but still alive with feedback-drenched spontaneity. And when these guys really go for the jugular, as on the escalating flights of technical intensity that relentlessly push throughout the mind-melting, ten-minute climax “Bone Amber Reigns,” well -- you needn’t worry about what you’ll be doing. You’ll have no choice but to die, like an animal, as Kerretta have just literally slayed you with the power of their rock.
Vilayer stretches across eight tracks, with a running time of forty-five minutes, and not a second feels misspent. The band’s best trick is a delightfully sudden verge from spacey, canyon-sized reverb-rock to jagged, pummeling metal riffs -- it’s not just the shift in volume, but the one in tone as well. Racing regularly from cold, pinpoint licks to hot, sweaty bludgeon (and back again) in record time, the band heats up fast. They also make plenty of time for odd, off-kilter rhythms and percussively taught guitar lines (most notably on album highlight “The Square Outside”) that recall the best parts of Battles’ 2007 instant classic Mirrored.
Kerretta showcase, most importantly, a stylistic diversity that renders epic, wordless jams like these compelling. From the low, mournful notes that open the album, to the teeth-rattling, slowly rising tension of “The Secret Is Movement,” to the vaguely Eastern guitar-wash crescendo of “White Lies,” Vilayer is packed with the requisite peaks and valleys of a truly fascinating landscape. It’s a wonder and joy to behold, certainly, but be careful: This thing scorched the inside of my skull.
Kerretta:
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Kerretta playing live at Double Door, Chicago, Monday April 5th, 2010. You should go!
I’m definitely in. Double Door kicks ass!