Futility Report

Futility Report stands for the cynical ridicule of the vain effort at maintaining order in the face of certain failure. It is the absolute expression of the magnitude of defeat. It is also the title of the debut album by ukrainian post-black metal six-piece White Ward. Formed in 2012 the band released a split with Silence of the Old Man and Sauroctonos between two EPs, all of which were combined in their 2016 compilation Origins. Now, a year after that White Ward come out with their first full-length album featuring six songs that were written and recorded between 2014 and 2016.

My curiosity for this album was instantly piqued when I read that the band’s music features a saxophone and I was pleased to find out how elegant and generally enriching the instrument’s presence is on this album. White Ward describe their sound as “intensely deviant with a noir shade” which is a very apt description for their style of music. Futility Report is an album that tackles metropolitan despair with its bleak sound and imaginative lyrics that paint surreal scenes of nighttime cityscapes.

Despite the dark palette that the band draws from their songs aren’t simply depressing or jaded. White Ward’s music is visceral and its emotions and themes are expressed to a powerful impact. Stillborn Knowledge was the first track of the album to be released and constitutes the very embodiment of the band’s qualities. A powerful intro launches the song into a furious and infectious black metal section fronted by wild screams. About a quarter into the song the saxophone kicks in, adding a smoky, nocturnal layer to the song’s atmosphere. Around the mid-section a post-rock segment begins, featuring some scattered guitar notes and subtle electronics that set the stage for a saxophone solo. The band kicks back into gear past the halfway point and unleashes a heavy rhythm section as the song gains momentum once more and a fiery guitar solo sets in. The guitars soon make way for the return of the saxophone, this time fronting jazz-influenced drumming and somber piano chords as the song fades out.

The song Black Silent Piers is off to a similarly impactful start, led by vast guitar riffs and supported by a strong rhythmic backbone by the on point bass-play and drumming. Dreary guitars initiate the song’s transition to a mid-paced section that is fronted by the saxophone’s sorrowful wailing. The vocals join back in and slow double-bass drumming pushes the song forward before tremolo-picked guitars build the bridge to a black metal segment. Following that the song fades out on a passionate guitar solo backed by the piano.

White Ward have a very skillful hand for cafting powerful songs that flow and captivate the listener with the black metal parts making for a cathartic contrast to the melancholic post-rock and jazz sections. In all that the saxophone plays an integral role in the band’s sound and makes for a great final touch with how tastefully it is deployed. I do, however, wish that the saxophone-playing was a bit more ambitious on some occasions, such as the song Homecoming, where it feels like the band missed an opportunity for a more intense saxophone section shortly before the last quarter of the song.

Generally speaking, White Ward understand how to write deeply cohesive material with the song Rain as Cure being the only big outlier in terms of the album’s overall sound. Rain as Cure has a strong lounge and smooth-jazz vibe with its slow, swaying saxophone, the snapping fingers and silky bassline. It makes for a brief moment of respite and bridges the gap between the tracks Homecoming and Black Silent Piers, past the halfway point of the album.

White Ward deliver a fantastic debut album and impress with their memorable and ambitious sound that marries jazz and black metal in a combination that has seldomly been more beautiful. Futility Report is an album that goes its own way, passionately telling stories of an absurd modern life, illuminated by the dim glow of the lonely streetlights.

Attribution: https://www.noisevortex.com/reviews/white-ward-futility-report/

Originally written and published by me in The Chimes

Formed in 2012 with the intention of creating “intensely deviant music of a noir shade,” Ukraine’s White Ward have spent the past five years perfecting their brand of extreme expression. Incrementally adding glitchy electronics, immersive soundscapes and melodious passages, White Ward showed no intention of curbing their creativity — which reaches critical mass in “Futility Report.”

Clocking in at 40 minutes, this debut LP features six dazzlingly morose tirades through the darkest and strangest vistas of human consciousness. “Futility Report” sheds normativity like an outgrown exoskeleton, emerging in majestic new life. Vibrant hues of modern melodic metal illuminate an abyssal post-black metal canvas, while elements of trip-hop, post-punk, darkwave and even fusion jazz give it magnificent texture. Amazingly, White Ward maintains cohesion and tasteful songwriting within supreme eclecticity.

Never one to jump straight into the fray, White Ward takes their time to set the mood of opener “Deviant Shapes.” A heartbreaking soliloquy from a desperate soul plays over trap-influenced hi-hats and glacial guitar strains before Yurii Kononov’s bass drum cues in the opening ruff. With frenzied blast-beats and rushing tremolo-picked guitars topped by Andrew Rodin’s hair-raising snarls, one might lose memory of the unorthodox intro before the band derails expectations with the first taste of Alexey Iskimizhi’s saxophone.

London’s King Crimson and Norway's Shining contend for the transcendence of brass instruments as novelty within a metallic context, but White Ward seamlessly integrates saxophone into their sound like no one else. Instead of shredding or soloing, Iskimizhi adds melodic structure and distinguishes jazz elements with somber, compellingly simple lines and developed vibrato.

“Futility Report’s” incredible production and conceptual approach keeps their eclectic style from becoming jarring. Each chord, beat, soundscape and melody more than earns its place on the record. One might not expect the moody crossover jazz interlude “Rain As Cure” to transition into the galloping riff kickstarting “Black Silent Piers,” but White Ward’s musicality — especially noticeable in Andrey Pechatkin’s intuitively changing his bass technique with the rest of the band’s fluctuation — allows them to tastefully transcend labels.

White Ward has no problem delving into jagged rhythm changes and skull-bashing riffs. Besides the synchronized guitar and double kick drum concluding “Deviant Shapes,” guitarists Igor Palamarchuk and Yurii Kazaryan contrast dream drowsy tremolo picking with syncopated riffage, melodious arpeggiations and blistering guitar solos in “Stillborn Knowledge” and “Homecoming.” However, this does not come at the expense of their blackened elements — frigid tremolo lines and morose modulations couple with Rodin’s unapologetically grievously screamed lyrics.

As each song phases through minimalist electronics, sensual saxophone melodies and immersive ambience sandwiched between an intoxicating metallic hybrid, Rodin’s lyrics explore the mentality of a man at the end of his rope. Hopelessness and uncertainty pervade throughout the album, whether he recounts an asylum patient's violent escape from his captors and ultimately his life or the final musings of one willfully drowning. Rodin does not pander to the faint of heart, pulling “Futility Report” together as a harsh narrative on human suffering.

“Futility Report” comes to a stunning conclusion, with every member pouring their entirety into the title track. With a spellbinding crescendo ushering in doomy riffage with soaring saxophone leading to wonderfully varied passages of proggy, anthemic and anomalously bludgeoning post-black metal. The album’s emotional climax comes with a massive build to Rodin’s despairing tagline: “All efforts are futile.” However, what seems like the end of the track metamorphoses into a two-minute darkwave jam. An odd-timed breakbeat slowly envelops looping chords in noise, making for an unexpected end to an unpredictable record.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of White Ward’s debut is how consistent it remains. “Stillborn Knowledge” shredding listeners into oblivion before dropping into a bouncy waltz just scratches the surface of how much they throw out there, but these evolutions flow with persistent smoothness. White Ward’s powerfully honest portrait of inner anguish grounds “Futility Report” in accursed narrative, forcing listeners to acknowledge the silent distress many feel every day and giving an essential catharsis for those suffering within.