Review: Twilight - III: Beneath Trident's Tomb
[Century Media; 2014]
Rating: 4/10 By
Justin Silk, Staff Writer
Key Tracks: "Swarming Funeral Mass," "Below Lights"
Twilight should have been putting out classic black metal records from the very beginning. Throughout its lifespan, the supergroup has consisted of legendary rock and heavy metal musicians, includingNachtmystium’s Blake Judd,Isis’s Aaron Turner and most recently Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore.
Now the band ceases to exist, but before its demise the band decided to put out one final album: III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb.
III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb does not feature Judd or Turner, but Moore makes his black metal debut here. Moore’s influence on Twilight’s sound is instantly felt and this record sounds much different from the band’s previous work. III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb is shrouded in feedback, buzzing, drones, noise and distortion.
It seems that without Judd or Turner for guidance, the band was lost and needed Moore to step up and direct it. However, Moore is new to the black metal scene, and his inexperience with the genre is immediately felt. At the same time, Moore took risks with Twilight’s final record that make it sound fresh and unlike anything else.
From the very first track, it’s clear that III: Beneath Trident’s Tombdoes not care about song melodies. It’s more focused on sounding abrasive and creating a depressing atmosphere. The tone of III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb is precisely crafted through distorted shrieking vocals, sludgy guitar riffs, sharp drumming and dense layers of noise. The world Moore and his bandmates create on Twilight’s third record is desolate yet absolutely captivating.
But III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb is very disengaging. The album sounds completely disjointed and there are no compelling moments. Listeners will struggle getting through the album once, and even though subsequent listens are better, they still aren’t good enough to be worth anyone’s time.
There are interesting moments on III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb. “Swarming Funeral Mass” opens with a melancholic guitar riff with great potential, but the song fails to properly build on itself. “Below Lights” suffers from a similar problem, quickly establishing a backbone of powerful industrial clanks but failing to establish any real substance.
III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb may feature impressive musical moments, but the lack of melody and feeling in these songs makes them hard to enjoy. Moore’s black metal debut is notably innovative, and it’s a shame that he won’t get to expand on the foundation he created with Twilight.
The band’s demise is truly unfortunate seeing as how the group ended its existence with an album that showed so much promise. Even thoughIII: Beneath Trident’s Tomb has major problems, it also has major merits that should make the band members proud of their flawed, barely listenable creation.
