NYOS - Growl

A Closer Listen

Hearing the sound of this big, brash, loud band, one wonders if there are five musicians or only four.  The correct answer is two.  Since 2014, Finland’s NYOS has been rocking out, creating an illusion of the ears.  The combination of guitarist Tom Brooke and drummer Tuomas Kainulainen creates this illusion with reverb and loops, sculpting live jams in the studio until they sound like full-fledged compositions.  Honoring its title, Growl is even more upfront and abrasive than its predecessors, the duo delving into dissonance while maintaining its melodic edge.

The album follows a loose arc, from “Get Ready” to “Alright, Goodnight.”  One can see these tracks as the beginning and end of a concert, with catalog songs joining the others to lengthen the middle.  The set begins in slow restraint … for a total of four seconds.  That’s how long it takes for the drums to enter.  Hope you enjoyed that reflective section!  The opener’s curious trick is to set placid guitar against frantic drums, creating a strange, disjointed feeling.  At the three minute mark, the track turns to shimmer before a slow-churning metal eruption.  We did not have this transition on our dance card!  This metallic tendency returns in the center of “Superstar,” during which we start to imagine a pretty cool light show.

“Harder Than Rain” is one of the album’s funkiest tracks, a bit too long for a single, but with a second half introduced by swift, sharp, drum rolls, leading to an all-out call to the dance floor at 4:30.  The set’s most accessible segment stretches only from 3:10-3:42 of “Lo4,” when an already dark piece, filled with squelch, draws back the curtain and invites listeners in, only to clock them on the head with playful drumsticks.  The guitar howls like a ghost in a haunted house, pauses momentarily after the percussive attack, and then starts howling again.  The stereo effects are particularly effective in the closing minute.  “Be Free” has its own beguiling transition at 1:50, when NYOS introduces a surprisingly accessible pop-rock groove, met by faux violin at 4:32.

And then, already, it is time to say “Alright, Goodnight.”  For 47 minutes, it has seemed as if the party might never end.  Because the album ends in a fade, one can imagine the party extended endlessly, somewhere beyond our hearing, dancing to the end of time.  (Richard Allen)