I remember telling my parents as a teenager that if a plague came along and wiped out humanity I would be happy. At some point during the pandemic, I wondered if that’s what was happening, but nope, turned out it was more of a pharma cash grab and billionaire-maker instead. Our species survived, but the way we’re ravaging our mother earth and ourselves every second of every day doesn’t bode well for our future generations. And listening to the new record from LOCRIAN, End Terrain, I can feel myself walking the hot, desolate hellscape we may be leaving for our 7th generation. Their synth-driven, groovy, blackened post-rock feels fantastical and immersive, bludgeoning my imagination with sludge rocks while ravaging my mind with fiery black metal winds. Locrian has created sonic tsunamis of dust and sand that strip my being to the bone while I tread the path they’ve laid for me on End Terrain. They’re calling me to my destined destruction like wrathful sirens, but also sorrowfully asking me why a species capable of such stunning audio beauty is also capable of such depraved, self-centred horror. Can we remember our place in the cycles and systems of our planet before it’s too late?
End Terrain is a concept album exposing a vision of a future earth consumed by waste. An apocalyptic landscape, inhabited by a generation who despise their parentage and a dying breed fully aware of the wasteland they have left. Mountains of trash and an uninhabitable planet, endless and dead. End Terrain is about inertia and regret, about the future and a mirror to the present, about mourning and extinction.
Locrian
It’s a captivating record, and one of my favorites from Locrian to date. I can’t imagine the power of this record live. End Terrain came out in April via Profound Lore Records and you can get it here. Their East Coast tour starts in July, so make sure you check those below!
