Amenra – De Toorn / With Fang and Claw | EP Review

Two EPs for the price of one (not actually) with differing approaches, Amenra have produced a right treat for us here.

Contrast is the name of the game here with the upcoming dual EP release by Belgian post-metal royalty Amenra. Both De Toorn and With Fang and Claw have been produced with different approaches to the writing style, with the former being a culmination of the bands long time evolution in sound, and the latter harking back to their beginnings. This difference in approach really rears its head across the two recordings, with De Toorn being a quiter more calm (until the end of the tracks) lengthy approach and With Fang and Claw having more on the heavier side of the spectrum.

De Toorn with its mass of droning quiet, comes as the natural evolution to the bands sound. This EP holds a different kind of heaviness than the more obvious metal based affair we’ve come to know. The beginning of ‘Heden,’ is expansive, contemplative and the oppressive thump of the bass as it fades out only to come back on the next bar is almost maddening. Quiet spoken word heaps atmosphere all over the track before it lets lose it’s madness (after an intense 9 minutes) with a huge riff, massive pounding drums and vocalist Colin H. van Eeckhout seemingly ripping out their vocal chords with the effort of the angst ridden screams. ‘De Toorn (Talisman)’ follows a similar structure, sparkling guitars stud a black sky of atmospherically drenched meditation before once again descending into heavy doom driven riffing to round the track out.

On the other side of the spectrum With Fang and Claw plays out a little more typically for a post-metal record. There’s still the moments of introspection, but mostly this EP plays to the heavier side of the genre. You can see how wide reaching Amenra’s influence is as these two tracks in particular conjure comparisons to the UK’s Wallowing, and Preatorian or Neurosis and YOB from the US, more so than De Toorn. Both tracks here are shorter than the other EP as suites their style of straightforward, balls-to-the-wall heaviness which creates a sense of cathartic release.

It’s not clear if Amenra intended for these EPs to be listened to back to back, but consuming them in that way presents some delightful paralels as well as plenty of challenging juxtaposition from a band that seems to have such a wide range of influences, and styles in their armoury. It’s clear why they are viewed as one of the peaks of their genre, these releases are a master class in post-metal, combining the softer and harder sides into something that is heavy from all angles.