What defines a genre has always baffled me and for me there are only a handful of genres and they are rock, metal, country, indie, pop, r-n-b, and rap. And maybe, just maybe I would classify a certain era’s over hairsprayed, tight leather, and extreme amount of makeup into its own genre of hair metal. In the end, no matter the genre, it’s all music to me.
Then comes Martikor and their latest album Acedia (out April 12). Self described as a post-metal project and I’d like to perhaps debate the band on this description. To say they finally give definition to a genre in an understatement as they lay clear what it means to hear shoegaze metal.
Acedia is the followup to their 2023 debut album Soliloquy and while I’ve never really understood the genre name ‘shoegaze’, Acedia clarifies this with its magnificent aura of melodic gloom.
Orbiting around the twists and turns of human emotions and the inner abyss of the human mind, Acedia’s seven tracks are a multitude of darkness, rage, and despair.
Composer Lenn comments,
“Acedia builds upon Martikor’s blend of atmospheric sludge, post-metal, black metal, and experimental textures. Conceptually, it delves into the intricate process of mourning, exploring both the anticipation and reflection associated with grief. Each track is aiming to confront and navigate the shadowy corners of the psyche, and the dark nature of the music serves as a reflection of the transformative power inherent in the exploration of complex human emotions.”
Just four seconds shy of ten minutes, the opening track, “Soothing Rattle” is a journey through the darkest corners of the mind and following the light at the end of the tunnel.
Lenn says this about the song,
“‘Soothing Rattle’ is about the dark moments that we experience in our psyche and while it is tormenting, it can be soothing in a sense, meditating through pain!”
While loss and grief are explored on “Elegy” and “Coiled”, “A Tremor in Infinity” and “Born Among Thorns” focus on inner struggles and self-reflection.
The haunting guitars create ghostly and dark atmospheres that build into beautiful cacophonies of distorted and dissonant crescendos that leave one breathless. Lenn’s tormented vocals are agonising, heartbreaking, and devastatingly sad. It’s a relentless slog through emotional turmoil, but one that is accompanied with a sacred and profane soundtrack of one’s soul.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for Martikor and Acedia.
Closing songs, “Awake” and title track “Acedia” offer hope with Lenn adding,
“The hope is that at the end of the process of dealing with all the emotional intricacies, one can be awake. Acedia means spiritual apathy, which is considered a spiritual sin, but I think it could be a path to tranquility. And existing for the sake of existing, ‘not for pleasure, not for pain’”.
In its brutal and cathartic exploration of sorrow and loss and through its visceral and gripping sonics, Acedia is a stunning melodic escape that pacifies one’s soul.
Art by Aaron Bonogofsky
