Novarupta - Carrion Movements

Angry Metal Guy

This review is late. There is no getting away from that and, while there are lots of reasons for this—some of them even genuine—the review is still late. I dislike delivering late reviews. It feels disrespectful to the bands and labels that share their work with us,¹ but it irks me more when the review in question is of a quality album. This brings me to Sweden’s Novarupta and its third full-length record, Carrion Movements. I was not familiar with this post-metal project prior to snagging it for review. Carrion Movements is both the third album from Novarupta and the third installment in a conceptual four-part series based around the elements of fire, water, air and earth. This is the ‘air’ entry in the tetralogy, following 2019’s Disillusioned Fire and 2020’s Marine Snow, which seem to have caused something of a stir in post-metal circles. Can Carrion Movements trigger the reputational eruption many seem to think Novarupta deserves?

The brainchild of Alex Stjernfeldt (of The Moth Gatherer, among others), Novarupta‘s latest effort departs from the mold set by its predecessors as it is an instrumental record. Its two lengthy tracks are named after two of the four Anemoi, the Greek gods of the wind. The record opens with “Eurus,” God of the East Wind and associated with Autumn, followed by “Boreas,” God of the North Wind who brought winter and ice sweeping down from the mountains. Carrion Movements is slow build, atmospheric post-metal in the truest sense but laid out in gorgeous detail across a trim 37 minutes. Capturing the moods and seasonal associations of the Gods from which they take their names, these two compositions say a huge amount with no words at all.

Carrion Movements by Novarupta

From the gossamer ambience and subtly-introduced strings that open “Eurus,” building toward the bright and flowing, almost symphonic, crescendo that ends it, to the gathering build-up of power on “Boreas,” Novarupta carries the listener with it. Just like Forlesen‘s stunning Hierophant Violent, Carrion Movements is a study in doing amazing things with very little. The ambient soundscapes contributed by Peo Bengtsson (Beckahesten) and Jussi Hämäläinen’s (Hanging Garden) violins add a breadth and depth to Stjernfeldt’s guitar and bass. The music seems to almost breathe, swirling with a life of its own, just like the autumnal and wintery winds. Svante Karlsson’s sparse drumming adds a mesmerising, rhythmic edge to Carrion Movements‘ delicate structures. Hämäläinen also adds his voice to “Boreas” as an additional instrument, his wordless intonations lifting in the frosty hinterlands at the end of the record.

Novarupta emulates ISIS‘s incredible gift for painting spacious, elegant aural pictures with scant and seemingly simple brush strokes. At the same time, it leaves out the post-metal titans’ post-hardcore edges, opting instead for the softer stylings of Station-era Russian Circles and the vastness of early Pelican. It’s not a unique sound but it’s delivered with such finesse that Carrion Movements is truly compelling from start to finish. For most of the record, Stjernfeldt’s electronics and Bengtsson’s soundscapes combine to deliver a background ambience that enhances Novarupta‘s guitars. There is, however, a section of “Boreas”—from around minutes 11 to 14—where there’s a sort of distorted, static hiss that sits just behind the yawing electronica. After numerous listens, I still cannot decide whether this is a problem in the recording process or simply a writing choice that I don’t like. Either way, it’s distracting and incongruous. If there is a fault to pick with the sound of the record overall, it’s with the drums, which are too loud in the mix and the cymbals sound thin, lacking in finish.

These are very small gripes, however, and frankly just about the only faults that I could find with Novarupta‘s latest. Much as I like instrumental metal, it’s still relatively rare for me to find an album that I don’t think, no matter how good it is, could have been enhanced by the addition of some sort of vocals. Carrion Movements is such a platter, however. It needs nothing adding and, apart from that old-stylus-like hiss on “Boreas,” nothing subtracting. Having familiarized myself with the first two parts in this elemental tetralogy, I enjoyed, but was not blown away by, either. Carrion Movements, however, floored me. It has stripped back Novarupta‘s sound to its bare essentials and this airy, expansive feel lends itself perfectly for a tale based on the Anemoi.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 160 kbps mp3
Label: Suicide Records
Website: facebook.com/novaruptaband
Releases Worldwide: April 22nd, 2022

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