Rannoch – Conflagrations
Release Date: 21st July 2023
Label: Willowtip Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Death Metal, Technical Death Metal.
FFO: Meshuggah, Kardashev, Rivers of Nihil, Ihsahn.
Review By: Rick Farley
UK progressive death metalers Rannoch unveil their third full length opus, Conflagrations, releasing on Willowtip Records. A fifty-two-minute journey through the harshest extremes of death metal, as well as the complexity and inventiveness of modern progressive metal. Equal parts focused songwriting, technically precise musicianship, punishing aggression, melancholic ambience, and dark twisting soundscapes.
Originating from the UK’s West Midlands, Rannoch is a breath of fresh air in the oversaturated genre of progressive death metal. Too often, the bands that typically represent this genre are bloated with intricacy and showmanship to the point where it feels insincere, almost bordering pretentiousness. Conflagrations obliges with those technical moments as well, but the difference is you’ll experience every note, every beat and each song is so superbly written, it feels truly authentic. Moments of severe brutality followed by luscious swaths of breathtaking atmosphere push the dynamic planes into a subconscious awareness that’s hard to explain. It’s crushingly heavy, ambiently textured and sonically absorbing. It’s quite clear that these are incredible musicians, but I can almost guarantee you’ll be fully immersed by the songs more so than the individual performances.
Threads is a chunky mechanical sledgehammer of a track. Precisely executed, and brutally swung towards your puny body. Think Fear Factory meets Meshuggah with tons of groove and dark flourishing auras. Its time signatures are complex enough to impress, but the meat of the song just straight punishes. Thunderous growls ring out over the jackhammering music, creating abrasive vocal patterns that are grating over the top. Ian Gillings (vocals) who’s listed also as doing guitars synths and electronics uses a gravely delivery that is gripping as it is savage.
The title track Conflagrations is a great example of using several soundscapes to achieve a building tension that goes from serene and emotional to pummelling brutality. Clean guitars slowly sway with lush airiness into bulky drums and driving bass. The synths in the background add ghostly ambience. The beat drops before returning ultra heavy with full distortion and blunt force, hitting like a wrecking ball. The depth of the track is fully displayed with musicianship that careens from raging to melancholic. From fierce growling to ethereal clean vocals. The percussion, which is done by Australian drumming legend Dan Presland (ex Ne Obliviscaris, Black Lava) is thick, hard hitting and incredibly precise. He has as much feel as he does accuracy. The bass from Paul Floyd adds legitimate weight to the tracks. Full and booming, the bass flows through the track like a heaving war hammer, pulverizing your bones into dust.
Daguerreotype has a distinct feel, only slightly calling small influences from other bands to create one hellacious trip to incredibly heavy realms of punishment. The muscular low tuned guitars and melodies from both Richard Page (guitars) and Ian border the line between trading virtuosic shreddy solos to destructive polyrhythms that will shake the foundation with dominant precision. In a word, crushing.
Conflagrations was recorded and produced by Ian Gillings at the Rannoch studio, in Warwickshire, England. The drums were engineered and recorded by Troy Mccosker at Bushido Studios in Melton, Australia. Mixing ad mastering by James Stephenson, Stymphalian Productions in York, England. Plain and simple, the record sounds amazing. It’s crystal clear, colossal and feels completely organic. One very minor critique that keeps this from being a perfect 5, is Earth Recycle, which is mostly ambient synth noise that carries on for a little over three minutes. It mostly fits in with the feel of the record, but it does disrupt the flow for me. It doesn’t seem necessary and is a skip over; the transition from track five to seven works much better without it. However, this is truly an incredible record from a band that’s on the brink of greatness and will skyrocket to the very top of the genre. Don’t say you didn’t know. 
(4.5 / 5)
