#post-doom

[doomedandstoned]

AINU Paint Compelling Post-Doom Landscape on Self-Titled Debut

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

AINU is a welcome new name to us, a three-piece heavy cinematic psychedelic post-doom powerhouse from Genoa, Italy (where many a band has popped onto our radar over the years, most recently Isaak). Here emerges today five soundscapes of the instrumental variety, part of the explosion in instrumental rock and metal that has emerged in recent years. The album is 'Ainu' (2024) which, besides being the name for the indigenous peoples of northern Japan, means simply "human."

First track is the stormy "Il Faro," which takes its name from The Lighthouse and appears to quote from an Italian language version of the 2019 film in its opening minutes. While I may not understand the dialogue, I can tell that there's a lot of passion and fluster in the words, and contrasts with a backdrop of eastern drone and psychedelic post-metal atmosphere, gathering like massive rain clouds.

The full band drops its weight two-minutes in and caught away in a swell. From the get-go we notice Ainu is a band that's quite confident in itself as an instrumental unit. The collaboration between Dani on guitar, Jacco on bass, and Gelso on drums is tight. Each instrument is deftly captured on this recording, the bass in particular has lots of clarity and plenty of oomph. It rewards listening with earphones, especially, but you can open up your speakers with this one and give the benefit of a full room -- the sound will claim it all. Listen for a key moment of transition 5:20 in with a warm, doomy bassline.

In many ways, this 12:43 piece mirrors a day on ocean's cliffs overlooking the waters and experiencing moments that are turbulent, mysterious, and serene. It is indeed cinematic in its vision, and this applies in many ways to the evolving scenes that follow.

Likewise, second track "Aiutami A Ricordare" (which means "Help Me Remember") generates big, rumbling sound in the service of a broad tapestry (it also makes its big splash around 5 minute mark with swinging bombast.

"D.E.V.S." and "Khrono" (the latter featuring guest musicians Francesco Bucci and Giorgio Nattero) reference the American science fiction thriller television miniseries D.E.V.S. and samples from the show here and there. The first two-minute track begins with surreal and calming ambience, but soon errupt into second -- a strumming, churning, tremelo-filled current. It's easy to get swept away in the momentum.

Whether you're listening intently, riding, or doing something else around the house, these songs always find a way to pull you into their moods, and here it is serious, searching, and tumultuous. "Krono" ("Time") ends with some of that broad, brash tossing back and forth Yob energy.

"Call Of The Sea," while not the longest, is certainly one of the more ambitious of the record and closes this cinquefoil journey out. The band takes time to build the story, and one could picture themselves picturing the landscape from a seagull's view. After three-and-a-half minutes of development comes the brake-squeaking dissonance announcing a transition, which comes with cymbals, watery reverberating strings, and a bass riff which you almost want to go on forever. It's Bongripper worthy stuff, but not meant to a barnstormer here, just enough gravity to keep our feet planted while our heads sail far above with the whirling, misty ambience of echoing loops and Lili Refrain's remarkable guest vocals. It's not really important to know what words she is singing, so much as to experience it, for it is beautiful and enchanting.

Ainu's self-titled debut comes out June 28th via Subsound Records on vinyl, compact disc, and digital format (get it here).

Give ear...

Ainu by Ainu

SOME BUZZ

'Ainu' is a concept record that moves between powerful and stirring soundscapes, building up at a slow but steady pace between psychedelia and post-metal, stemming from the Genoa trio’s passion for cinema and their close relationship with the sea, its stories and creatures.

Featuring special appearances from Lili Refrain as well as Francesco Bucci (Ottone Pesante) and Giorgio Nattero (Carcharodon), this album is an intense, emotionally dense experience that uses the descriptive foundations of seamen and the calls of huge animals to recall the connection between the sound and the environment. An electrifying and contemplative journey for the heart and soul of heavy music lovers.

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[onlyhurtforaminute]

SUTON-CELESTIAL CONSCIOUSNESS STARLIGHT DIVINE

[coffinwoodx]

ok so for those of you who don’t know, there’s this twitter account of a japanese local hero mascot named dentman who went viral recently due to this tweet

but yeah he saw the tweet. and his response went viral as well (which is how i found his account)

and he just has like. hourly posts reminding you to brush your teeth

oh and his rival? his name is mr. mutans. whenever dentman posts he makes a post of his own, ofc

but THAT’S NOT ALL. literally while making this post i found a THIRD ACCOUNT that’s all about taking your meds

safe to say i’m losing my mind

anyway the point of all this was that people are ALREADY beginning to draw them ship art 😭

and the reactions are everything

I CANT ADD ANY MORE IMAGES BUT TRUST ME THIS IS SO FUNNY

toxic one-sided dentman yaoi wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card but it DEFINITELY IS NOW!

[mag200]

one thing about orpheus and eurydice is you guys are all like “i’m different i wouldnt turn to look at her” because you are all familiar with the story of orpheus and eurydice. but orpheus wasnt familiar with the story because he was in it lol.

[clownsuu]

God I love the insane amounts of d r i p Stanley just casually wears

[drenched-in-sunlight]

i think whenever Marika was on the edge of spiraling, only Messmer knew how to pull her back.

(my art is always based on this theory)

[lotus-pear]

learning to love

[chloesimaginationthings]

There's doomed yuri... in my FNAF ruin?

[gandalf-the-fool]

[harshr]

Listening to the latest Die Selektion record got me thinking about other goth/industrial bands with brass which got me to revisit Beyond Dawn, one of my all-time favorite acts. Very happy to find that their very unique and particular brand of dark and doomy art/pop/goth holds up perfectly.

[opikiquu]

iknow my comics are ugly please just hear me out

[captainsaltypear]

today's adventure is brought to you by the phrase: "existential dread"

[doomanddead]

Mairu’s Sol Cultus Sizzles

The dog days of summer are uncertain times. It’s hard to concentrate when Sirius rises and the world is sizzling. Even my cozy little canyon feels unnaturally humid and still. The newest offering from Liverpool quartet Mairu feels like the perfect soundtrack to get us through these torpid days. Their album Sol Cultus is packed with languorous post-metal instrumentals and slow, doomy riffs. It’s too fucking hot to mince words, so let’s get into it.

The album opens on Torch Bearer. This track toys with tension— sometimes laid back and ponderous, and sometimes taught with nervous strumming. The hammering heartbeat of the drums keeps things moving forward. The shining, ecstatic crescendo is a brain freeze in the Sahara. 

Perihelion is a pensive beast. It manages to sound simultaneously cavernous and warm. The song is grim but oddly buoyant, and makes for some damn good metal.

Still and fragile interludes like Inter Alia give the longer pieces on this album room to breathe.

The band’s 2019 single Wild Darkened Eyes sounds better than ever here. The track is furious and haunting with a groove that pounds its way to the finish. 

Drummer Ben Davis rattles our brains with a hypnotic performance on The Scattering Dust. Heavy, wandering baselines and acrid riffs give this track a perilous undertone. 

Atar is built from imposing slabs of percussion, and grouted with heaping globs of intensity. Cave-man beats lead the way; the rest of the band crashes in after, like the Kool-Aid man on roids. 

Where Atar was pounding and insistent, Rites of Ember is ethereal and melancholy. Clocking in at nearly ten and a half minutes, this behemoth moves at its own pace. Fervor creeps in like the tide until we’re up to our necks in a frothing mass. Just as we’re in danger of being overtaken, the tide turns and washes out again. 

Mairu seems right at home in the doldrums of summer, deftly manipulating tone and mood to glide through the thick atmosphere. Pick up Sol Cultus, and slip into the thrall of post-doom oblivion. 

[twipsai]

i cant stop thinking about tiny omega in the trailer

[littlebittyhollowbugs]

The narrative really doomed this bug huh

[equill]

Job promotion (now what?)

Comic 1: Interrogation

Caught him lurking in the background (he was being suspicious in their defense)

Comic 2: Everywhere you go.