Xyresic is back!
A few weeks only after my
"extensive" post about the Singapore band discography
and a couple of months after the "teasing" release of
Nuevo Orden Mundial on their bandcamp page, here is
Futuro Oscuro, Xyresic's second full length. And let me tell
you that I was looking forward to it and that my expectations have been
fulfilled!
But first, let's take a few seconds to look at this magnificent cover
artwork. Far from the black and white, dark and aggressive punk aesthetic
of the first two releases, this takes us to the dry and "contemplative"
atmosphere of the far reaches of the Sahel region and, except for
the typography of the band's name whose aesthetics clearly refers to the type of
raw music played by the band, one could almost think of having to deal with an album of
Tinariwen
or a
Mdou Moctar
album, the two Touareg music scene leading bands.
Mdou Moctar was actually mentioned as an inspiration in the
writing of this album, which surprised me so much coming from a raw punk
band from Singapore that I spent some time listening to the Nigerien
guitarist songs (that I've always found enjoyable but I'm more into Tinariwen to be honest, too much "guitarist vibe" with Mdou for my taste) to try to understand how this inspiration materialized and
how his name ended up next to more obvious influences like
Sial
and
Una Bestia Incontrolable and that takes us to the main part of this post: my highly valued and long awaited opinion on the band's music!!
Xyresic start building up the record atmosphere since the very first second thanks to a both bewitching and disturbing intro whose "tribal" drum pattern, and distressing and psychedelic guitar riffs, are the perfect transition to what will not take long to fall on us like a jack-hammer on a baby's fingers... Fast drumming, angry screamed vocals, noisy guitar sound mixed with these still very evocative guitar riffs arising from the desert (yes it's subtle, it's deep, it's somewhere in there but the Touareg music influences are real)... Xyresic's songs are raw, crude and angry but they're so much more than that, these songs are journey through a dry land of despair and madness where the mind can hardly survive, a silent land crushed by a harsh, dry heat where there is only one final thing left to do: destroy the remains of one's vocal cords with hoarse screams that parched throats will not be able to endure for long.
It could be the mix of fast and straight forward parts with mid-tempo
psychedelic parts
on Fuego Del Infernio and
Calor Húmedo, it could be that bewitching drum pattern (the album's common thread) on
Mirar Adelante, Serpentie Salvaje or
Nuevo Orden Mundial that drags us, in spite of our rational mind, in the whirlwind of the unhealthy pleasures of primitive and bestial dances, it
could be the overwhelming sense of noise, heat and heaviness that invades
your senses when you listen to these 10 tracks... it could be all of this that makes this album a beautiful success, without any doubt the best
release of the band so far.
With Futuro Oscuro, Xyresic has reached the point
Sial's reached before them with their Zaman Edan EP, a point
where punk music manages to create a visual, but also sensitive,
atmosphere which unfolds like a harsh and hostile landscape before our
ears, a kind of vegetal and mineral jail in which our mind would be locked
up for the time a few caravans of saturated guitar riffs pass by...
Brilliant!
I haven't seen any news about a physical release yet but I'm sure it will
happen any time soon. Be assured that this record is going to take a few hundreds spins on my turntable at some point!
N,J'Oi!
