Generally speaking, I’m very covetous for things that shouldn’t go together but somehow do, sometimes in an impeccable and unprecedented manner. You know, chocolate and potato chips, Romeo and Juliet, greed and power, all that stuff. Taking things from the opposite ends of the spectrum and ramming them together yields some interesting results. There also tends to be no middle ground, as the outcome usually is either one of the greatest or the worst incidents in human history, career and style defining gestalt or a catastrophic mixture no one should’ve gone for. Giving the stink eye to pineapples and pizza here, that’s just nasty. But the band I aim to introduce to you today is of the former kind, excelling where others have failed miserably, rising above the grey mass in a brilliant and incandescent fashion.
Noise Trail Immersion are a five piece from Turin, Italy, exploring the unique and quirky unison of black metal and mathcore. Formed in 2013, the band has since released an EP and two full-lengths; S/T in ’14, Womb in ’16 and Symbology of Shelter last year. While the mentioned collision of styles has been tampered with before, the standard never got set as the precipitates were simply mediocre at best. That short line of muddy and ostentatiously purposeless artists was cut down into the shady nooks of the past all at once as Noise Trail Immersion came from nothing into existence with an explosively vibrant appearance.
Since their formation and the nameless debut EP, the band has pursued their own sound, drawing influence from various sources, but never straying or drifting from their chosen path. S/T saw the band opening up through tightly controlled chaos with a whopping production value heavy on experimental approach, but having a signature chord running throughout. There’s no denying that like most bands, Noise Trail Immersion‘s style has refined after the first release, but the EP stands strongly amongst the albums as an integral and interesting part of their discography. The delightfully repulsive dissonance and the bleak anger presented on tracks like “We Are Sleeping” and “40 Days”, in all their shiver-inducing nuances, are still looking for their peers to no avail. It’s puzzling how something so complete can be achieved so early on, and I was lucky enough to be able to ask these questions directly from the band’s vocalist and founding member Fabio, whose answers you’ll find quoted throughout the article.
‘The band was born in 2013, and at the time we were playing quite the basic kind of death/mathcore music, but suddenly decided to add more influences to those basics to make sure of putting more of ourselves into the music we perform. After that, we decided to add black metal riffs and atmospheres but without losing our own stamp. We then managed to get who we consider to be the best people to work with us in this project, and I’m very satisfied with everything we’ve been able to create ever since.’
Going forward to their first full-length Womb, the band’s style evolved into a more dismal form. This darker element was introduced consciously, as the band decided to morph their approach to writing and shift their focus point into the deeper, more meaningful and emotionally rich end. This is mainly audible through the leaning towards different ambiance that are like sonic sculptures soaring to unknown heights. Adding obscure chords, different kind of intervals, and tonality in the guitar work – and changing the vocal style to be more hardcore-oriented, violent, and raw – brought forth an even more sophisticated and high-minded act.
The tracks on Womb are abstract creations, deploying a seamless flow and very rarely repeating patterns as their main forte. Take the frantically pulsating “In Somnis” or the vigorously proceeding “Placenta” for example, both fluently digressing all over the place, but never losing the core tone. Contrasting these, the opening and title track are droning, atmospheric pieces that somehow fall in place perfectly. During the album’s grand moments, both of these antithetical key points collide, sprouting an unimaginably strong aural experience.
‘At the moment we are looking for a compositional level where we try to deconstruct the concept of a ‘metal song’ and be as free as possible in order to express ourselves, changing from cacophonous moments to introspective atmospheres using our own, very personal musical rules. Most of our songs are written either by me or Daniele. Year after year we’re looking forward to creating something original by writing more and more complex and eclectic riffs. We are slowly getting rid of our mathcore side inspired by the works of bands like Kayo Dot and Amia Venera Landscape, both of which are artists we think use personal and anarchic compositions, but still sound coherent and stay true to themselves.’
The lyrical themes walk hand-in-hand with the music. Representing comprehensible yet personal subjects, the approach feels poetic and appears intriguing because of just that. Personally, I’m a sucker for good lyrics and the fact that readers can interpret them in their own ways, either while listening to the music or separating them into their own entirely. The latter is not something that artists tend to go for though, and that is very apparent with this band as well.
‘I always try to make a connection between the music and the words that I can express alongside it. It’s usually a personal research. I mostly speak about my impression of the world in its entirety and the general human condition. Most of the time I’m forced by others to share the lyrics, since I think that people should be linked to the music in its entirety and not just be focused on the meaning of what I’m singing. Because the sense of what I sing is included to the feeling that our music gives.’
When the news about the successor to Womb broke, I found myself wondering the enormous possibilities of what the new songs might offer, and wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. The first single track “Mirroring” unveiled a matured band, even more focused on the atmosphere and less on the technical prowess. Sure, there’s still material and individual parts that are hard to wrap your mind around, but the totality is more coherent and ambitious than ever before.
Symbology of Shelter is a constantly moving and shaping being, that’s exactly what you could’ve expected from the band, if you really could’ve expected anything in the first place. The tracks flow into each other and share subheadings, making the whole album feel like an oppressive journey infested with abrupt turns into an unpredictable and undisclosed destination.
‘For the newest album we thought of connecting all the song together to create a unique and massive song, to be considered as a musical landscape with all the differences and peculiarity that could be found is such a large prospective.’
The band clearly succeeded in what they set out to do. Experimenting with wildly different textures shines above everything else, making Symbology of Shelter an album that’s easily more than the sum of its parts. To grasp the idea, you simply have to sit through the whole thing incessantly, multiple times.
Noise Trail Immersion has also reached a point where they can pretty much choose any direction they want to and pursue it, and the result would still fall into their musical continuity without further concerns. They have reached their own level that’s basically unreachable for any other current artists, and I am ready to fight you on that. Preserving artistic integrity is clearly the main point of writing and performing for the band, and it’s gratifying to witness their slow but steady ascension to people’s collective consciousness around the globe. I’ll leave you off with a solid final statement from the band that pretty much encapsulates the band’s essence and position in the grand scheme of all things:
‘Considering that for us the music is a catharsis, it’s definitely not important to have goals as much as it is to enjoy composing and performing with people who feel the same way as we do.’
Noise Trail Immersion is…
Fabio – Vocals
Nebil – Guitar
Daniele – Guitar
Lorenzo – Bass
Paolo – Drums
