Post-metal and stoner rock both struggle to escape the shadows of their forebears. Nothing gets me off like a well-developed soundscape, but countless bands claim to be the next Neurosis or Kyuss while bringing nothing to the table but fuzzy minimalism. This Melvin can attest firsthand that the Melvins already exist, and imitating them is a losing battle. So I approached the sophomore release from Houston’s sludgy post-metallers Pyreship with high hopes and a raised eyebrow. Does Light Is a Barrier succeed in forging an immersive atmosphere, or pale in comparison with its inspirations?
A huge reason I picked up Light Is a Barrier is its distinct resemblance to Elder, a band dear to my heart. Like Elder, Pyreship loves psychedelic jams, but these jams are a means of building lush atmospheres, rather than an end in themselves (“Broken Spire,” “Anathema”). The band’s arsenal includes not only thick stoner doom riffs but also minimalist post-rock melodies, which dance gracefully around their heavier counterparts. Parts of Light Is a Barrier bear an uncanny similarity to ISIS, with the softer sections of “Broken Spire” and “Highborn” evoking Panopticon by way of their patiently unfolding melodies. Pyreship supplements its ebbing and flowing guitars with a stalwart rhythm section that helps drive its crescendos and climaxes.
Light Is a Barrier grabbed me by anchoring its atmospheres to captivating melodies. Pyreship excels at building songs around unexpectedly engaging ideas, like the lovely main theme of “Anathema” and the crushing off-rhythm intro of “Highborn.” After my first few times listening to the album in the background, I knew much of it by heart, a testament to Pyreship’s talent at writing riffs that are both memorable and immediate. As a result, Light Is a Barrier feels concise and punchy, in a genre that’s notorious for bloat. “Broken Spire” is the best example of this; after a gratuitous intro, the opener belies its nine-minute length by flowing smoothly between crunchy riffs and a simple core melody that reeled me in before I knew it. Sludge often feels lazy in its construction, but Pyreship was meticulous in crafting Light Is a Barrier, making sure that its 39 minutes don’t feel like 39 hours.
The simplicity of Light Is a Barrier blunts its staying power. Some of the heavily doom-laden sections suffer the most, and don’t always live up to their upstairs neighbors. “Half Light” and “Forest of Spears” both spend too long rehashing sludge riffs that are chunky but forgettable, making the middle of the album drag. The post-metal parts of the album face a similar issue of having too little going on; despite the similarity to ISIS, Light Is a Barrier falls short in terms of its depth. The second half of “Forest of Spears” is a notable culprit, with a buildup that is admirable in its aspirations but feels anticlimactic, lacking the rich layers that make classics like “In Fiction” hit so hard. The atmospheric parts of the record do often work, with the beautiful buildup of “Anathema” and the middle of “Highborn” deserving special mention. But even those highlights sound shallower than their inspirations, and are tough to truly get lost in as a result.
Light Is a Barrier is a solid way to get your atmo-stoner fix, despite its limited replay value. Pyreship deftly avoids the standard pitfalls of mediocre sludge, but also lacks the requisite complexity of the classics. There’s no doubt that Light Is a Barrier is chock-full of head-turning melodies, but it plays most of its cards on its first play-through, leaving little left to be uncovered on subsequent listens. Still, it’s a mesmerizing record that hooked me by being both beautiful and catchy. Light Is a Barrier will snake its way into your hippocampus, even if not your year-end list.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Independent
Websites: pyreship.bandcamp.com | pyreship.com | facebook.com/Pyreship
Releases Worldwide: April 22nd, 2022