This is the third album from Ingrina, a post-metal band from France.
So what do we have here then – a band who are described as a mix of post-metal and post-hardcore? One who are compared to Cult of Luna, Russian Circles and Year of No Light? With some striking album art to boot? Yep, it was impossible for me to resist sampling Ingrina’s wares.
I’m very glad I did too. Containing 39 minutes of material, Nåværende Lys is a mood-focused powerhouse of a record. It offers up a spellbinding combination of post-metal, post-hardcore, and post-rock, laced with doom elements.
Nåværende Lys feels like an instrumental album in scope and impact, but there actually are vocals – all five band members contribute these in fact. However, these are used as further layers to the music, supporting the feeling that you’re listening to an instrumental post-metal record, even though you’re very clearly and obviously not. There are also three guitarists, allowing for a complexity of songcraft that can be intricate and involved, but is also remarkably smooth, with a natural flow. In other words, the songs on Nåværende Lys are of such high quality that the music becomes all-encompassing, no matter what any particular aspect of it is doing at any given moment.
The songs are supremely well-crafted, providing a listening experience that’s akin to a vast tapestry laid out before you, compelling you to spend hours and hours in exploration. The music provokes and stimulates, sometimes softly, sometimes harshly. It urges you to deep contemplation at one end of the scale, and an untamed eruption of visceral feeling at the other. Ingrina’s soundscapes are utterly absorbing; whether you’re simply taking it all in or transfixed by whatever part of it is currently holding your attention firmly, you’re hooked, and it won’t let you go.
Nåværende Lys is highly immersive, atmospheric, and powerful. Drenched in emotion, each of the songs grows in stature and potency the more you embrace them, and live with you even when you don’t. Nåværende Lys is a captivating exemplar of how to craft affecting post-metal that has a voice of its own.
Wonderbox Metal 