Bosse-de-nage – Further Still (The Flenser)

Wednesday, 12th September 2018 By Matthew Bowling

Rating: 8.5/10

I’ve had a very hot and cold relationship with Bosse-de-Nage over the years. The first two albums didn’t really resonate with me (in truth they still don’t), then after being okay with III, I was absolutely floored with “A Mimesis of Purpose” on their split with Deafheaven in 2012 (in my book it’s still their best individual track). All Fours took a hot minute to grow on me because it released right around the time I put out to sea for most of 2015. Enter Further Still, or taking an the essence of something and stripping everything unnecessary out of it.

The essence, of course, in this case would be the band’s sound. The songs on Further Still resonate with the same frenetic alt-black sound the band has carried for years, but now things resolve in five minutes or less (as opposed to eight+). Advance release track “Crux” carries the old and the new alike: frenzied drumming (blasts and rolls aplenty) serving as a platform for the band to race forward. As ever, the vocals are a unique proposition, for all the lyrical attribution to literary sources, it’s still delivered in a pained shout (not too dissimilar from vomiting, and that’s not a knock against them).

Each song is built around a series of melodic points and the band tears from point to point, rarely repeating for long before shifting gears slightly (usually from high to higher), wrapping up before the listener has the opportunity to even grasp the freefall (see “Down Here”, “Sword Swallower”). In line with most of world today a bleak, synth-driven remission occupies the middle of the album with “Dolorous Interlude”.

Refinement is an awesome thing for every release does not need to attempt to reinvent the wheel. Closer “A Faraway Place” is fitting in its role, as both the longest track and one most overflowing with moments of fury before building (and building) to its moment of final catharsis. Better late than never to the party, and in the case I’m glad I’ve been able to get in on the ground floor with a new release by the band. It’s a monster.