There are many bands that have been referred to by writers as the perfect purveyors of the soundtrack to the world’s end, but in recent times perhaps there have been only a few who came as close to capturing it as Chicago trio Locrian did on their 2013 LP Return To Annihilation. Locrian’s sense of scope had always been dystopian, solidified most prominently on their 2009 album Drenched Lands, but on Return To Annihilation by the time 15 minute closer “Obselete Effigies” had exuded its final heavy breaths, the sense of being at complete peace with the idea of the world’s collapse had come full circle.
Infinite Dissolution continues the band’s mercurial approach to the almost purposefully negative world view the trio (with drummer Steven Hess becoming a permanent fixture in the line-up since 2010’s The Crystal World) appropriate. Speaking to CVLT nation, Andre Foisy said that the album revolves around “the sixth extinction, or the sixth mass extinction event, which humans are witnessing and causing now”. This feels like a natural conceptual and sonic evolution for the band but whether it works in practice is more of an ambiguous question, even after hearing the record several times.
Locrian’s belief in their massive, driving scope, and vision isn’t derailed here, but there are questions to be asked about just how strongly the impact that was so aggressive on previous Locrian releases is felt. Heaviness, dynamics and melody all rear their heads, with particular attention this time around to a sense of delicacy that has always lurked close to the core of their sound but becomes THE core component this time around much of the time. This would be more laudable if said melodies were more arresting, but therein lies the problem with Infinite Dissolution; its texture and thickness seem to be lacking.
Opening track “Arc of Extinction” attempts grandiosity commendably, but only Terence Hannum’s pained wails stand out as focal. There’s a distinct lack of power that’s more keenly felt due to the fact that Locrian were a precedent for more recent bands who have displayed adeptness in these quarters (see Altar of Plagues’ Teethed Glory and Injury for instance). “Dark Shales” offers itself as both more cosmic and more cryptic, but again abides by more self-regulating and inoffensive allurement. The approach to “The Great Dying” is that it’s an actualisation of large-scale wonder, but when it finally erupts it’s largely inconsequential.
There’s an inconsistency that evolves as both a bi-product of the weightlessness of the Infinite Dissolution and due to the new dynamic not always sitting well track-to-track. “KXL II” is organic and suggestively orchestral, but even though its dalliances with disconcerting noise become more prominent by the end of the track, it’s not quite enough to relieve the song’s rather dour run time thus far.
There are two moments where the memory of the presence handed to us in spades on records like Return To Annihilation resurfaces. Locrian’s sensibility of fitting their experiments to desolate, apocalyptic imagery is resounding on ‘”KXL I,” the menacing electronic scree and haunting, faded screamed vocals convoluting into a sense of past, mournful dread. “An Index of Air” takes the cold and futuristic vision a step further; when the sense of pathos built throughout the first 3-and-a-half minutes explodes it sounds simultaneously anguished and desperate. “The Future of Death” is a shorter, far more direct affair but is actually rather beautiful, albeit the simplest moment here.
Infinite Dissolution is affable in the way that it attempts to incorporate new elements within the Locrian’s barriers and is thematically loyal to the sense of destruction they’d previously mastered. However, the posts have not been so drastically moved that they’re on a totally different pitch, and this in turn means that more often than not (and unfortunately) the album feels like a watered down, slightly muscle-less endeavour. It’s important to remember though that Locrian’s dynamic is totally at their own discretion, which means sonic strength will likely never be something that evades them altogether.
Rating: 2/5