Style: thall, dubstep (intsrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Vildhjarta, Stoort Neer, Humanity’s Last Breath, The Doom (2016) OST
Country: France
Release date: 1 January 2025
Thall, the style of music created and coined by the now decades old Vildhjarta, has always been an intriguing genre. For one, many do not even consider it a genre at all but just another offshoot of djent; to these people, yet another delineation of what is already a tenuously defined sub-genre itself is unhelpful, especially when there are so few bands actually operating in the scene. If you had asked me my opinion a year ago, I would have agreed. After all, three Swedish bands sharing members (Vildhjarta, Stoor Neer, Humanity’s Last Breath) does not make a genre. But recently, things have changed; be it through the growing underground success of bands like Fractalize and Frostbitt or the more viral sensations of Catsclaw and Hjarna Waves, thall is starting to look like something real. However, for every banger the emerging genre produces there seems to be twice as many duds. My colleagues have already lampooned the likes of Culak and Aaru, but it seems the task has fallen to me to tackle the new release of the somehow wildly popular Mirar.
Employing a style of modern instrumental metal that feels as though it were made for flashy TikTok videos as opposed to serious listening, Mirar dropped Ascension on New Year’s Day, and, like most years, it begins promisingly and then immediately squanders all potential. That is to say, the soundscape of opener “Couronne” is truly well done: the delicately tremolo-picked acoustic guitar accompanied by the luxurious layers of french horn and reverbed out synths gave me hope for what was to come; I even—although we won’t let Andy know this—was reminded of Caio Lemos’ work with Brii, though my hope was quickly dispelled. “Tombe,” the track that follows begins with such a non-sequitur from the opener that it is almost comical; I’m sure the shock was intended, but the decision to push it to such an extreme speaks to a lack of restraint that plagues the rest of the album.
From the intro of “Tombe” and onward, Ascension consists entirely of endless variations on what seems to be the same exact riff. Whammy pedal induced squeals replace every other note with an ear-piercing grate and various pick scrapes and harmonics obscure the rest. Beyond the squeals, there is so little actual tonal content on this release that the tracks where it occurs like on “Charnier” and “Épreuve” become standouts simply by acting as reprieves from the din. And I’m no bitch when it comes to dissonance; I’m the guy who put six dissodeath albums on his best of 2024 list. The way the shrieks are applied on Ascension—except for a few key moments on tracks like “Faux-Amis” and “Confiance” where they harmonize with the backing piano—is, to me, the antithesis of good riff writing.
Mirar does actually get staggeringly close to quality music at several points. For one, the production across Ascension is actually stellar: the guitar tone is throaty and violent, often sounding more like dubstep bass than guitar; the synthesized drums are punchy and effective; and the bass, although it never shines on its own, emphasizes each riff with a satisfying heft. Surely it’s the production that keeps so many people coming back to Mirar right? Don’t tell me people actually like these riffs. When I turn my brain off, I can see myself cleaving demons apart with this as the soundtrack to the next Doom game, but even that primal utility only goes so far in the face of endlessly shrieking guitar.
I absolutely adored måsstaden under vatten when it released in 2021, and I still regularly return to en glad titel på en sorglig skiva; but when I look back, it’s not the production wizardry and clever whammy pedal use that made me fall in love with Vildhjarta and Stoort Neer. The strength of these bands, and in thall as a whole, is in its ability to take their unorthodox riffage and eerie soundscapes and transform them into powerful, evocative music. That’s the reason I still get chills every time I start up måsstaden under vatten and hear the ending of “lavender haze.” That’s why people flock to this sub-genre within a sub-genre. When I listen to Ascension, though, I simply feel nothing. Unfortunately, Mirar seems to have forgotten the strength of their ancestors, and there’s nothing worse than boring djent.
Recommended tracks: Charnier, Épreuve, Faux-Amis, Confiance
You may also dislike: Culak, Aaru
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Label: Independent
Mirar is:
– Léo Watremez
– Marius Elfstedt
