法國圖盧茲太空迷幻三人組進入名廠 Sub Pop 的最新專輯《ILION》保持著壓倒性的遼闊與壯麗，金屬的激烈與迷幻搖滾的吉他狂想，並且倒入了比起以往更加豐富的旋律，隨著長篇的旅途，你會遇上 Godspeed! You Black Emperor 般的高峻激昂、...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead 的後硬蕊狂喜，甚至是 Zeppelin 的瘋狂藍調搖滾以及令人暈眩的 Goat 神秘美學，然後打從心底懷疑「這真的只由三個人完成？」。
SLIFT ILION is a towering work of rock music, a steamrolling record that starts at the highest peak and never lets up. If that sounds overwhelming, trust that this Toulouse trio have you in good hands. Their third full-length feels massive and oceanic, merging the furious intensity of metal and the wigged-out guitar heroics of psych rock with post-rock epic sense of scale. ILION is the kind of music where you listen to it and think to yourself, “This came from only three people?” It sure did, and SLIFT utter ferocity is way more than a tempest in a teacup. It reaches outwards for miles and creates new zeniths within unforeseen horizons of rock.
SLIFT is made up of brothers Jean and Remí Fossat, and Canek Flores, who first met the brothers Fossat at school. After the band formed in 2016, they quickly made their 2017 debut EP, Space Is the Key, which merged stoner rock heaviness with the sugar-rush qualities of garage rock. From there, things only got weirder: The trio experimented with faster tempos and bongos(!) on the following year full-length La Planeté Inexploreé, and in 2019, their KEXP session recorded at the Trans Musicales festival in Rennes became a viral sensation, racking up more than 1.4 million YouTube views.
UMMON from 2020 represented SLIFT pivot towards the celestially crushing confines of psych-metal, marked by Remí rolling basslines and Flores relentless skin-pounding. But nothing in their catalog could prepare you for ILION, a huge and melodically dense record that at once recalls Godspeed! You Black Emperor perpetually uplifting surge, the passionate burn of post-hardcore legends …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Led Zep psychotic blues-rock mysticism, and the psychedelic swirl of Swedish greats Goat.
But reducing ILION to a list of reference points would be missing the point—specifically, that you have to sit down and experience this thing and let it take over your ear space. Over eight tracks and 75+ minutes, SLIFT unleash the fury with walls of guitar and multi-part song structures that make you feel as if youre being taken on a true journey—from the pure oblivion of ILION title track and the abandon of centerpiece “Weavers Weft” to the intense climax of the epic “The Story That Has Never Been Told.”
But what is this journey? Joseph Campbell would be proud of the thematic path laid out before the listeners on ILION, which is named after the Ancient Greek word for the city of Troy and, conceptually speaking, picks up where UMMON left off. The band explains: “Where the two records differ is that ILION is about human emotions and feelings, whereas UMMON was telling an epic story with a distant view. ILION represents the fall of humanity and the rebirth of all things in time and space.” Heavy shit, to be sure—but fear not, because you dont need a 12-sided dice and a copy of The Odyssey to get what SLIFT dishes out on ILION. All you need are two ears, an open mind, and the willingness to be truly blown away.
Track listing:
1. Ilion
2. Nimh
3. The Words That Have Never Been Heard
4. Confluence
5. Weavers Weft
6. Uruk
7. The Story That Has Never Been Told
8. Enter The Loop
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