These funky instances are few and far between. Sometimes one just spots them. New artists sporting insane talent, way out there beyond the beaten track. And their work just hooks you straight away. It’s a bit like the devil and your dark soul. As a reviewer, you won’t get away from it until you wrote yer piece. Or there won’t be peace – of mind or otherwise.
Rioghan is one of those artists. Already her 2021 EP Blackened Sky landed in our review pipe like a dropkick on a wet surface. And that one didn’t try to dazzle us with overwrought shenanigans, much to the contrary. Quiet yet fiery, proficient, and still innovative. These were attributes that immediately came to mind last year.
Now, she is back with her debut record Different Kinds of Losses. And I daresay, this is yet another fascinating piece. Rioghan here took different themes and items that could possibly be lost in life, and – weaved elaborate songs around them. And sometimes this ends in life-threatening situations, like the somewhat dramatic Breath that we extensively covered earlier.
For long stretches, the album sports soft ambient tones that sail in on quiet gothic vibes, high on a background of simple rock and elaborate pig-headed acoustics (Breath or Sight, for instance). Yet once you’re ready to send the record to the confines of the folk people, true metal breaks out. Suddenly, you have high-pitched rasps hit you like a sledgehammer in an abundance of no-nonsense metal riffing.
Different Kinds of Losses also displays a true affinity to Progressive Rock and Metal that will suddenly show its pained visage – and in no uncertain terms. Promises and Reflections probably are the tracks that got most of that Haken-esque fire right there. A picture-perfect representation of modern prog. By Loki’s minions, the girl should give it a go the next time around. Just try a true prog album, and leave all those established folks quaking in her wake. Prog with a gothic touch. A deliciously wicked thought and a trait that would just end a few progsters out there. Just sayin’.
And speaking about the devil. Once Bruises started playing, the keys and overall look and feel got somewhat too close for comfort. So not too surprisingly, we found one Einar Solberg (Leprous) with his paws all over that one, and Lights, too. A few years ago, Leprous took a totally new direction in style, away from the sturdy prog they were delivering earlier. But on a headstrong record like Different Kinds of Losses, Solberg’s keyboard offerings sound just about right.1 Whilst the prog on other tracks hits you straight in the face, on the two Solberg tracks it’s all subtlety. Until some Extreme Metal screams break out like Myrkur on a mission, that is.
And that is one of the main attractions of this record. This knack to suddenly turn a track on its head, and inject some power where there was none before. Immediate progression, from zero to light speed in a nanosecond. And that may bestow a song with a totally different look and feel. Or – then – you get Folk Rock songs that could spring directly from Passenger‘s kitchen (Time). So, there’s an amazing level of variety in Different Kinds of Losses that you really need to look for in other records.
And whilst Summer should have been scuttled and sent to the darkest depths of the next ocean at hand, Rioghan sent us a remarkable record. Living proof that a melancholy gothic streak in lyrics and songs studded with Victorian tableaux of various tastes and colors mustn’t be the end of an album. Instead, Different Kinds of Losses presents us with a masterfully crafted selection of songs, all with their very own flavor and 50 shades of oomph. That said, the record never veers away too far from its alternative and progressive roots that come on large waves of ambient, acoustics, and abject metal interludes. It takes a lot of talent and skill to pull this off this way, and we salute the artist for that. So, on to the next record. We’re game for more, much moar.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Inverse Records | Web: Facebook (band)
Release Date: 9 December 2022
- And luckily no Solberg wails were found anywhere.-↩