Locrian – Greyfield Shrines LP

Diophantine Discs

Greyfield Shrines is a record that is successful on at least a few levels. The first is that it’s just a damn solid release, and the second is that it’s actual guitar drone that I like. I really appreciate when artists can break my jaded opinions and Locrian has done just that. It was only about 5 minutes into the one track – that takes up both sides of this LP – that I starting thinking about how Locrian sounds much like a darker Emeralds here. I know I have reviewed Locrian before but I cannot quite remember the quality of their work, although I can almost assure you that they have come a ways since that split tape.

The track is a typical build-up, jam-out, noise-the-fuck-up, then die, outing. But you know what? I’m not tired of it yet, and Locrian makes this trip quite enjoyable. The build-up works just as well as the best drone releases can deliver and by the time we’re knee deep into side B and the jam is raging Locrian is just bringing it. Sweeping washes of noisy electronics, melodic but screaming guitar lines, and a feathery bed of bass drone to just let the listener bury themselves in.

Although Greyfield Shrines is great and all, maybe it’s just the guitar but I can’t help thinking about how bad-ass it would be when the drums finally kick in. Unfortunately at this stage in the game Locrian still can’t quite provide enough compositional interest to make me feel like this isn’t just half a band playing really good tunes, but still looking for that last member. Outside of the Emeralds reference I might compare this to Tarentel, Birchville Cat Motel, or even Tarantula Hawk (minus the drums of course).

Grefield Shrines presents a definite success story for both band and label. Although I’m not a fan of the 2 insert-style LP artwork the printing is classy metallic silver on black stock with some cryptic images and designs. Text is sparse but just enough to satisfy. In addition the swirly grey LP is quite fitting to the whole release. Nice work.

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