This is the fourth album from UK post-metal band Telepathy.
What do we have here then? The promo blurb Pelagic Records recommends Telepathy for fans of Tool, Deftones, Russian Circles, and The Ocean, which, coupled with the fact that it’s on the ever-interesting Pelagic Records, meant I couldn’t pass this by without checking it out. Let’s get stuck in then.
Transmissions boasts 58 minutes of material, delivering a cinematic, atmospheric feast of post-metal to the listener. Despite the using the Big References above, they’re also, (Russian Circles aside), misleading in some ways – Telepathy’s focus is not on traditional song structures, but on building feeling-rich moodscapes that are awash with atmospheric depth. I’ll throw in some bands like Year of No Light, Bossk, Hemelbestormer, Cult of Luna, and Dirge. Couple this with the sci-fi progressive keyboard-rich approach of someone like Monolithe, and format like an instrumental post-rock album, and you’ll have a good idea of what Transmissions offers.
The music provides the listener with an expressive post-metal landscape to traverse, one strewn with hard rocky riffs and clouded by synths that still let light shine through. Telepathy roam this compelling vista, exploring where they will, drawing the listener down sludgy pathways, progressive warrens, and perilous hilltops in search of meaning and experience. Like in nature, there is great beauty here, but also danger and threat. The songs seem to flow out of the band easily, sometimes in a torrent, sometimes in a trickle, feeding into the river of sound that is the album’s tracklist.
Transmissions is an album that’s dynamic and immersive, while still benefiting from its fair share of massive riffs and rolling heaviness. It’s an easy album to slip into. Telepathy have delivered an enjoyable and satisfying record that has been skilfully crafted.
Highly recommended for fans of immersive, atmospheric post-metal.
Wonderbox Metal 