Review
Kerretta
Saansilo

Though the artist/album title combination features enough frustratingly doubled letters to require this review to be rewritten no less than five times, New Zealand instrumental three-piece Kerretta's newest album Saansilo is such an impressive release that I really didn't mind.

Kerretta's sound seems caught somewhere between Isis and Tool, and I mean that as a compliment. The songs have this drone-like post-metal quality to them, but have just enough change in composition to feel like progressive rock. The pieces do like to repeat themselves and take their sweet time in building, in true post-metal fashion, but once Kerretta get to where they're going, they're quite happy to mess around rather than repeat any more than necessary. It's still heavily derived from post-rock, yes, but there's also these random bits of digression and experimentation that make it so much better. Oddly enough, the songs sometimes feel underdeveloped, like the band hadn't quite finished with everything it wanted to say. The last two pieces on the album--the only two that really qualify as 'long'--also have some of the better moments on the album, mostly due to the time that Keretta spend developing them. That being said, that's a nitpick so small it had to be measured in ångströms.

One aspect of this album that I really enjoyed was that the bass is ridiculously upfront in the mix, often eclipsing some of the lead guitar lines. This is particularly enjoyable considering how absolutely delicious the bass is on this album--its presence is especially apparent on tracks like "Bloodlines" that really draw attention to the rhythm section. In addition to the bass, there are a lot of really heavy, fuzzy guitar sounds that give the music an incredibly heavy quality. Though I'm hesitant to call it metal--there's just something incredibly soft about the arrangements that makes it seem lighter than it actually is--it definitely has a down-to-earth sound. There are also a lot of spacy effects, odd tone choices and flying guitar lines that make the music seem really futuristic, mostly in a zeerust kind of way--this could be the music of the future as seen from 1975.

I don't think I can with any level of fairness single out anything wrong with this album--it is just that good. Though I wouldn't use the phrases 'classic' or 'great' to describe it, it's nonetheless good, solid music from beginning to end.

Kerretta have really done a fine job with this album. Saansilo is full of enjoyable melodies, sick guitar lines, and bass that I can apparently only describe using gustatory phrases. If you're a fan of "post-", then I highly suggest you listen to this album.