Review: IER – 妖怪

Style: Black/Experimental (Mixed vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: Argentina
Release date: October 31, 2020

It’s always interesting to go hunting for albums on Metal-Archives. As a tool, it is quite amazing how easily you can find hundreds of thousands of bands that will scratch whatever you’re itching for. In my case, I usually search for Argentinian bands, sampling just about everything that’s catalogued in hopes of finding a new great artist that I’ve been sleeping on so I can come here and scream at you about how great it is. Enter IER. Their upcoming album 妖怪 was labeled as ‘depressive suicidal black metal’ (or DSBM for short), so I was initially hesitant whether it would fit our blog at all. Hence I pinged Sam about it to check it out the day it released whether it was prog enough for the blog. And it turned out that it wasn’t only prog, but one of the best releases of the year that blew my socks off.

妖怪 has been entirely done by one guy that lives a few km away from my home, ”Ignacio Elias Rosner”. Funnily enough and by complete accident, it turns out that I had already reviewed an album in which he was one of the two main members. That album was none other than Uroboros’ 2018 album Le Rose est Nouveau Noir. If you heard that album back then, you could tell that there was a variety of influences and styles ranging from tango all the way to death metal. And IER is no different in that aspect; while remaining black metal at it’s core, you can pick apart influences from death, sludge, Japanese folk, and even glam(!).

With this much going on and a whopping 95 minute album length (MINUS bonus tracks), this album seems like a recipe for disaster; your typical one man experimental MA band that can’t compose nor produce to save his life, and fails at even one hint of promise. But somehow, not only does it avoid that, but it excels in everything it sets out to do. Its barraging black metal ”in your face” style (comparable to the most intense moments of Ne Obliviscaris) is executed beautifully, with a production that roars on its guitars creating just the right amount of chaos and just enough room to breathe. But this is just the initial blueprint of it all, because that is in no way the only style that he absolutely nailed. While this initial idea is present in most tracks, the way it’s countered/balanced is approached differently in almost every track. Whether it’s a nice, folky acoustic interlude, dissonance accompanied by Japanese samples, or even a straight 4/4 ‘black n’ roll’ kind of riff, everything this album throws at you is just excellent. And the vocals have also been expertly crafted, fitting in about any type of atmosphere present on the album. The harshes are extremely well produced and pleasing to listen to, with vocals articulate enough to pick apart most of the lyrics sung (provided that you speak Spanish, of course). The cleans are extremely hypnotic, almost as if a Buddhist passage is read to you while you’re either chilling out to some folk or being destroyed by the kvltiest of riffs. Production tricks are present all over the place too, with my personal highlight being a quieted down blast beat playing in the background of an acoustic passage, for it to be reprised in it’s chorus when the same melody is played, but gone completely bananas (i.e 楔 〜紅い蝶〜) .

This album is simply a machine that continues to create and wow you at every turn, which is why it’s 90+ minute length is justified. A 22 minute closer after 71 minutes of music is something that would have me looking forward to be over in most albums, but here, I couldn’t help but be excited and on my toes coming into it. IER has created a piece so remarkably excellent that I recommend any progressive music fan to check it out, even if you’re still not warm to the black metal scene, which is why it gets my first 10/10 of the year.

Recommended tracks: 仄暗い水の底, 楔 〜紅い蝶〜, 東海道四谷怪談
Recommended for fans of: Schammasch, Opeth, Ne Obliviscaris, Enslaved
Final verdict: 10/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook| Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

IER is:
– Ignacio Elias Rosner (all instruments)