Darkness and light
-- Inner Missing --
21/09/2021
Stijn Daneels
Album genres:
■ | Gothic Metal |
■ | Doom Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Sigmund | Vocals, guitars |
■ | Melaer | Keyboards, bass |
Review written by Corin Geypen.
[CORIN REPORTING]
[SHREDDING BASICS]
[CORIN REPORTING]
Inner Missing is an interesting
band. They’ve toured with doom metal greats like My Dying Bride and Saturnus
and yet their current sound doesn’t have a lot of doom or metal elements to it.
Interesting, if you ask me. With their eighth outing "Deluge," they offer a lot
of different things. Let’s take a look at this Russian goth duo.
[SHREDDING BASICS]
"In the Haze" gently eases us into the
album, Sigmund’s voice sounding at once familiar to anyone who’s spent any time
in the gothic world and yet unique to this band. The atmosphere is dark and
gloomy, which is also par for the course. While the clean lyrics are clearly
understandable, they are poetic and you need to take some time to really listen
to them. I like what they’ve done with the bass sound, easily picked out to
show some of Melaer’s skill. Sigmund’s sparingly used grunt is somewhere
between computer-generated and death metal beast, which I definitely like. The
song is varied and easy to listen to, with some aggressive breaks. All in all,
Inner Missing is off to a good start.
The drums at the start of “Daybreak”
are pretty neat, I appreciate the band’s attention to detail here. The rest of
the intro is straight off any goth rock album before Sigmund once again takes
over with his vocals. I like the mix between rocking guitars and classical
instruments. It’s a pretty decent song, my only comment would be that the vocal
lines are very similar throughout. Sigmund hasn’t tried to go counter to the
music or to break out of the mold set by it, which might be a nice challenge to
set himself.
The start of “A Trice of Verve” had
my leg bobbing along instantly, the rhythm pulling you in straight away. They
have some cool details in here to make the song more interesting. The vocal
sound turns decidedly Bowie-esque at times, which is a nice touch. “Nothing is
essential”, Sigmund whispers, the band continuing their poetic storytelling
about a broken world, trying to offer a light in the darkness. It hits home as
I look at my own life. All these things we collect for no reason… I really wish
they had provided me with the full lyrics, so I could study them in more
detail. There’s clearly a lot there.
With the song “Locusts” we hit the
halfway point. This instrumental has some interesting structures and turns
almost djent at times. Again, I like how each instrument, even the bass, is
clearly audible. For me, it’s the catchy guitar riff in the middle that really
makes this song. They then take it to this really funky section that’s pretty
cool, too. It’s a great song that fits with the band’s sound, yet offers you a
completely different look at them, too.
Then it’s back to familiar
soundscapes with “The Gift.” Once more, I wish Sigmund would go outside of the
music for some more interesting vocal lines. But maybe that’s the style the
band is going for, message over musical complexity. The band would still fit in
comfortably at any gothic festival I’ve ever attended.
I like the intro to the title track of
“Deluge,” that neat jingle peaks your interest for what comes next. Which is
another very respectable gothic rock song. Again, the lyrics are more complex than
the music and the song needs to be listened to several times to make sense of
everything Inner Missing is trying to tell you.
The piano used for “Elegy” sets a
completely different tone than the rest of the album. This truly goes back to
their gothic roots, the atmosphere fitting any dark wave band. Gone are the
guitars, gone the almost upbeat drums. This is an exploration of our inner
darkness. I’m vaguely reminded of Lacrimosa, though I’m not as familiar with
that band as I should be. The song has a good length, another minute of this
particular style would have been too much. But as a switch in genre that still
sounds like Inner Missing, this song is pretty fitting.
The song that really took me by
surprise was “Grodek.” Sung entirely in German, this song offers another
different look at this Russian band. The intro has this neat piano section,
which I appreciated and I can actually hear a bit of Saturnus in here. The song
definitely has some neat tempo changes, too. A perfect ending to the album.
[SHREDDING VISION]
Deluge’s album cover is interesting.
The title in its literal sense means an overflowing of the land by water, yet
the cover shows a ship travelling through space, riding on tendrils of red mist.
I’m not sure what the link is, but the image is a striking one.
[SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
While all the songs on "Deluge" are
excellent for the goth rock genre, I would say "Locusts" is my personal favourite.
This instrumental shows a musical depth that the other songs lack and I feel it
showcases Inner Missing talents as musicians. That said, the other songs have a
lyrical depth that make you pick up the album again and again just to figure
out everything the band is trying to convey.
[CORIN’S SCORECARD]
Inner Missing’s eighth album “Deluge”
was sent to us by Inverse records. “Deluge” is a solid outing, not amiss at any
gothic festival. The band shows quality throughout, and while the songs are
similar, they’re always just a little different. The fact that they’ve included
an instrumental like “Locusts” and a piano-based song like “Elegy” tells me
they’re comfortable in many different styles. Make sure to pick this one up if
you’re into goth rock. I give this album an 8/10.