Damn, is there a trend going on with single member bands or am I just now picking up on this long running reality? Fear Falls Burning is the prolific lo-fi post-rock vehicle for Vidna Obmana (the musical pseudonym for one Dirk Serries). A mostly improvisational project, Fear Falls Burning give Frenzy of the Absolute as one of many LP's which the group is responsible for unleashing in the mind blowing two years since Obmana's creation of the moniker. I say mind blowing because of the shear quantity of work under the Fear Falls Burning name in that short period of time.
Frenzy of the Absolute toys with listeners heads by employing quiet drones and ambient sound washes amidst cavernous drums and guitars which seemingly carry on a narrative with themselves. The quiet hum that inhabits the title track provides a supremely hypnotic quality to the guitars and drums and make them seem superfluous to the drone which feels as though can drag one down at times into its swirls of sound. With "He Contemplates the Sign," listeners will quickly realize that the drones are completely the focus as they deem to fold in and out of each other, almost like a strand of DNA with multiple layers of undulating sound than just another piece of music; again, this track is as equally hypnotic as the title track and might create a heavy feeling in one's head while listening to it.
The tones in "We Took the Deafening Murmur Down" are much different than elsewhere on the album, particularly in the beginning movement of the piece with its reverb drenched guitar notes; while the drones find themselves taking a more subtle role to fill in space around the intoning guitars, the track still maintains the hypnotic quality even when the drums make their presence known and the piece starts congealing into something more conventionally recognizable in a typical song arrangement.
Appreciating what Fear Falls Burning creates on Frenzy of the Absolute will be easy for listeners of musicians and bands which utilize long droning passages and quiet sound scape type music, but those who hold little experience with this style of sound will find it difficult to wade through the swirling sounds on this record. Although it is a much more pleasant experience than other examples of the genre, Fear Falls Burning are not a diving in point for novices. Still, aficionados will find quite an excellent slab of slow churning and cascading aural pleasure to hear.
