`AINU` is the self-titled debut album from Genoese post-metal / post-doom instrumentalists, a trio comprising Daniele Leone (guitar/ synth/ samples), Jacco Ricardo Armeni (bass) and Andrea Gelsomino (drums) and evolves from a passion for cinema and their close relationship with the sea, its stories and the creatures that inhabit it.
We are led into the delights of Ainu with `ll Faro` which seems to translate to the lighthouse and has a two-minute heated dialogue which as it appeared to be in Italian, I was unable to understand. This is followed by some opening guitar riffs and pounding drums that carry us along and at times become delightfully hypnotic. There are passages that kind of take a time out and appear reflective before we are encouraged to rejoin the original sonic direction. The bass and guitar interplay backed by the rhythmic drumming allows a slight undercurrent of foreboding as the number evolves. Towards the end the track starts to shimmer before closing out with a more forceful doom like dynamic. Again, we have a brief dialogue that opens `Aiutami A Ricordare` which according to the web translates to `Help me remember what happened the night Tom died` and it`s just under ten minutes of totally absorbing nigh on mesmerising auditory noises which transmits a wonderfully absorbing and alluring musical soundscape that really draws you in.
`D.E.V.S.` is one hundred and eighteen seconds of off kilter echo like sounds and seems like a pallet cleanser between tracks, a kind of appetiser. There is a ten second snippet of conversation at the conclusion. We enjoy a kind of journey or voyage in `Khrono` which begins fairly aggressively before becoming more reflective or introspective up to the midway point where a spoken word passage acts like a siphon. This oral discourse continues infrequently throughout as the music becomes almost heavily prog like and complex for the remainder of the composition. The vocal contributions seemed to touch on fairly weighty subjects.
The album closes out with `Call Of The Sea` which had intricate riffs that were lighter in texture but alluring all the same. As it progresses it veers of in a more stoner or doom like vibe and has a passage that quietens down to allow a verbal account of what may be longing to sail the oceans. A further ethereal dream like segment follows with melodic female harmonies that are almost operatic which leads us out of this submission.
I read that `Ainu` was a concept album but if i`m honest maybe that part passed me by or maybe if I had a good understanding of Italian, it may have become clearer but nevertheless it didn`t distract from my enjoyment of this opus. `Ainu` conjures up some powerful, passionate and stirring visual soundscapes and keep my interest for it`s forty odd minute lifespan. A release that is certainly worth setting some time aside to enjoy.
Rating 8.5 / 10
