Where Echoes Gather

A friend introduced Communic to me as the “new Nevermore”, and although I did (and still do) like Nevermore, I didn’t at the same time find it necessary for the scene to have another Nevermore provided that there were quite a few acts who were bending the Nevermore way in the new millennium, one way or another. Besides, the Americans were alive and well at that time, with no intentions on laying down the weapons yet.

Although similarities between the two bands can by all means be detected more than just occasionally, the Communic style is by-and-large a logical continuation of the one that the band founders Oddleif Stensland (vocals, guitar) and Erik Mortensen (bass) were exercising with their first project Ingermanland (previously Clairvoya), with two excellent demos released in the late-90’s/early-00’s, the delivery oriented towards the old school progressive power metal spectre with both shades of epic and thrash further enhancing the potent formula.

The Communic story had already commenced when Stensland joined his compatriots Scariot for the recording of the latter’s third coming “Strange to Numbers”, a fairly cool album that sounded quite similar to the Ingermanland efforts, and not only because of Stensland’s powerful emotional clean vocals ala Warrel Dane (R.I.P.). The Scariots took a more clinical, more technical and thrashier direction with their next instalment “Momentum Shift” leaving Communic to carry on down this strange, numerical path and consequently produce fairly positive results on a string of consistently strong showings. Stensland was also successful in luring away the drummer Tor Atle Andersen from the Scariot line-up, a partnership that has proven very strong and lasting with the three members having been together ever since the inception, with no other musicians involved under any form in the Communic cause so far.

“The Bottom Deep” was a more introspective recording with bigger orientation towards doomy and balladic/semi-balladic developments, seeing the band in a pensive, somewhat sombre mood. A lengthy break followed before another gathering of echoes started getting accumulated, leading to the appearance of the album reviewed here. The good piece of news is that the guys have gotten out of their lethargic state, and this opus is a much more pulsating, more dynamic offering than its predecessor with a more ambitious concept developed text-wise as well, with most of the compositions part of a bigger, mostly 2-part whole.

Thrash has been nicely brought back, disturbing the peace on "The Pulse of the Earth” with frequent skirmishes among the lyrical quiet respites, occupying even more space on the title-track(s) where some really captivating clinical technical shredding can be heard, not far from Coroner even. The more aggressive shenanigans disappear, but atmosphere with darker, doomy shades gets instilled by the 9-min "Moondance", arguably the band’s finest achievement, a true masterpiece of epic sorrowful song-writing with Stensland producing a spell-binding performance behind the mike. A fabulous respite superseded by the intense stomping power/thrasher "Where History Lives" the riffs sustained in a sinister steam-rolling fashion, unceremoniously marching into the Kreator cover of "Black Flag of Hate"… kidding here, of course, this cut welcomes the listener with hectic semi-technical riffage that gets interlaced with equally attractive balladic configurations, the achieved symbiosis reaching some kind of a culmination on "The Claws of the Sea”, a progressive multifarious power/thrash saga that would have easily made its way into any of the early Nevermore recordings.

The 6-year hiatus has been a well-measured step, after all, as the band have returned revitalized and well-rested, including Mortensen who has been busy with this new initiative he founded early in the 00’s, the modern industrial groove metallers Dimenzion: Psychosphere. There are no compromises with the guys’ chosen style whatsoever, this is the good old Communic all over, and with Nevermore sadly no more it makes even more sense to see the Norwegians around on more regular bases although it’s not very likely to hear Stensland shredding in the same cold, dispassionately technical manner as Jeff Loomis in the future. The band will surely continue serving the metal community… in their own reverberating way.

The metal scene is a strange place sometimes. Some bands never make it out of the underground and are happy being there, some seem destined to go big, or go home. Communic are exactly in the middle, as they have touched becoming a relatively big household name during their Nuclear Blast years, but never actually made it into the major league. That is not criticizing - the Norwegian trio’s music has undeniably been top-notch, though complicated, expansive and difficult to even listen to, let alone rock out to in a live setting. And after a long pause since the differently-sounding “The Bottom Deep” (an album which I like a lot), they come back, maybe a bit shyly, backed by a new record label.

“The Bottom Deep” represented a slight stylistic shift to shorter songs that were more cohesive and shorter. On the other hand, they were also morose and lacked strong hooks. Such approach seems lost and gone by the time “The Pulse Of The Earth” finishes - the Communic of 2017 are noticeably more technical than last, and the chemistry between the trio is audible in every tempo shift and every interaction of the instruments. Mostly, it’s the jaw-droppingly tight rhythm section that holds the fort, leaving Oddleif to his guitar acrobatics. The mainman himself is much more happy to deliver riffs and leads by the truckload - probably his least restrained performance in the band’s history. Moreover, he stays as vocally solid as always, resembling a clearer, controlled version of Warrel Dane. Their trademark power/thrash sound with progressive song structure remains intact, the only change being a more varied and free-flowing songwriting style.

The first two songs (both split into two parts) show Communic what they do best. The main riff of the opener is scorching and instantly memorable, as the band builds on it to tie together several technical and one eerie atmospheric section. The title track, then, sacrifices a bit of the heavier, Nevermore territory in favor of parts that will leave most musicians feel like amateurs. Case in point - the over-the-top technical opening to “The Underground Swine” doesn’t sound like anything the band has ever penned. Such approach that doesn’t hide, but rather amplifies the band’s alloy of heaviness, melody and technique is much less subtle and easier to listen to compared to the previous album.

Essentially, Communic is a band whose life and death solely depends on songwriting. And for the most part, the elaborate structures of songs on this record slowly reveal themselves and just get better every listen. Of course, I could live without the overlong “Moondance”, since whatever that song does, “The Distance” from their debut does better… sans Oddleif’s fantastic solo, restrained as usual, featuring beautiful, seemingly folk-inspired note progressions. Then, the second part of “Claws Of The Sea” drags for two minutes before getting somewhere - also, they underuse probably the strongest melody on the album (the one which opens and closes the song).

“Where Echoes Gather” will probably not earn Communic any new fans. Instead, I am sure they will firmly remain a notable and decently popular power/thrash/prog band. For fans of the genre, this is not a record that should go unnoticed, as its only flaws are a couple of slightly dragged-out songs and one that is just a little bit uninspired. The rest - pretty much spot on. Welcome back, guys!