It’s the bleak album cover that made it happen. The successful arrival of Inver‘s debut album On This Earth at our review pipe’s doorstep, that is. And – I guess – the fact that the record aired mid-January when everything is should be frozen helped a bit, too. Melancholy galore, no end in sight for the ceaseless wintery depression. So, we got ourselves fertile grounds for doomy musings on sunless days, one would think.
But then – nada. The record continued to fester unmolested by prying eyes in the sumpy realms of our datafeed. Because whenever we fired the record up, the piece screamed mangled darkly gothic electronica back at us and refused to incite the feisty minds of the review desk to get going. The feedback loop of the usual yeasayers fawning over the record and entrenched metalheads enjoying a hissy fit over the frugal offering at hand didn’t help either.
Thus, it took a while until On this Earth gained a foothold over at the RMR review desk. At first, this jumble of tracks indeed felt like some misguided electronica with a rocky twist. On top of that, this self-released record seriously lacked visibility on social media and elsewhere. This has improved a bit since January, but it is still nothing to write home to mama about. And all of that indicates that there’s still a lot of work to do in concept creation and digital marketing over at Inver. But who am I, right?
The band states that members come from – and I quote – “…diverse backgrounds of extreme metal, alternative acoustic and traditional folk…” that should fuel the essence of On this Earth. Yet, the origins of those august roots got lost in translation somewhere. And whilst this is so, methinks that Inver rose from the ashes of the now defunct Black Metal outfit Shadowflag sporting Jake Doherty and JJ Flames as former members. The latter seems to be active still in Gorgonchrist, a Black Metal/Crust Punk band. And he also seems to have done a short vocal guest stint on Epitaph of the enigmatic And Now the Owls Are Smiling. And that pretty much explains why these folks ain’t all that grand on that damned marketing thing.
But back to the threat of overwrought electronica foisted upon our metal-laced ears. On This Earth is indeed a frugal piece. Some sort of mix of the bleaker parts of Katatonia, sleepier versions of Final Coil, and a tuned-down slice of End of Green. A peculiar mix of Gothic and Dark Metal, Darkwave, Synth Pop, and Alternative Rock. And all of that comes with an uncanny willingness to experiment – which is a welcome trait of any out-of-the-box record, by the way. And if all of the above screams melancholy at you, you’re straight on the money. On This Earth oozes desolation and a sense of dread of what horrors might still lurk in this fucked up world of ours. And whilst the song structures are starkly barebone and almost austere, the lyrics are grim, desolate, and worthy of your undivided attention.
And here we get to the problem of dropping a painfully short 33-minute piece. In fact, those records sail dangerously close to EP territory. In this light, any track should hit home hard, because time’s painfully short and the devil’s waiting for nobody. And that’s far from the case, On This Earth is a (very) mixed bag. The intro is already a candidate for the chopping block. It just won’t connect to anything on the record, let alone Traveller, the second song. This one’s an okay track that for sure lets Bryn Jones‘ Katatonia-ish timbre flow freely.
Now, Tarnished Son is the one track On This Earth should be remembered for. Subtle electronica effortlessly flows into a pretty juicy groove pregnant with Alt-Rock, Dark Rock, and Metal. A track that expertly moves beyond what the often pseudo-gory gothic tableaux have on offer. That one indeed gained some notoriety on our music machine. But what daemon rode them to concoct Devil’s Hands is beyond me. Perhaps to serve as an intro to We All Get Lost? Monologues can be powerful but endlessly repeating the same phrase won’t win you any brownie points over here. Luckily, I Stand With Trees offers a trve and fitting melancholy end to this album.
So, where does this land us? On This Earth may indeed not be at the levels of musical prowess worthy of the highest ratings on the RMR zine. The crew found a jumble of tracks, some of better quality and some ready for the waste bin. This comes with some overly repetitive traits, generally anemic guitar work, and drums that are often in dire need of some added oomph.
And yet. The record exudes a well-forged sense of desolation and sadness. A true gothic sentiment of dejection that goes well with the overall morose theme. Thus, if you look at the whole piece of work, the band truly managed to chisel out haunting emotions through – at times – almost ethereal arrangements and often wistfully atmospheric melodies. This means that this record touched the right nerve over here. A trait that many other records of the same ilk weren’t able to produce.
And that tells us that this band has much more potential up its sleeve for future offerings. In this light, we’re almost sad we couldn’t like this piece better. But we’re equally sure that Inver‘s sophomore album will up the ante. Enormously so.
Record Rating: 5/10 | Label: Self-Released | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 19 January 2024