Prismer I is undoubtedly, hands down, one of the best albums of this year.
Release date: October 24, 2025 | Papercut Recordings | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Purchase/Stream
I already spoke about BLACKSHAPE around the time of their eponymous debut album here. You can pop over there to get a glimpse if you’ve never heard of this band before. If you aren’t into that, cool, let’s just see what’s up with Prismer I. To kick things off, I just want to say that it is supremely serendipitous that Prismer I turned out like this. I say that mostly because I remember being heavily into their debut, but especially “ITIIITIATIIHYLIHYL”, and I just wished for more of that with a twist. That’s exactly what Prismer I is, albeit that it’s a highly reductive way of illustrating the record.
It’s obviously so much more than that. More than I could’ve realistically hoped for. Dare I say, more than any one of us could’ve hoped for. One of the things which I find oddly pleasing is the stylistic mélange present. It’s such a neat, well-balanced, well-executed blend of mathcore, post-rock, shoegaze, and atmospheric elements, all of which are delivered with a sweet, progressive edge. I’m going to call that mathgaze – you heard it here first, folks.
I don’t find myself often quoting bands describing their work, however, I feel like this is essential to the listening experience. So, let’s take a quick look at what BLACKSHAPE have to say in broad strokes about Prismer I:
‘Created under intense personal and creative pressure, they channeled their challenges into the music, refracting them into something beautiful, harrowing, and cathartic. The title reflects this, blending “prism” and “prisoner” to capture both the confinement of a single way of thought and the liberation in breaking it apart. Just as a prism bends and disperses light, every experience can shift perspective and reveal countless paths, some daunting and others full of possibility. Escaping the prison of one perspective means choosing to see the full spectrum – beautiful, ugly, terrifying, and freeing. This is PRISMER.’
I didn’t even see this until I was around my third or fourth listen – then upon the next listen, it just felt like, suddenly, everything locked into place so much better, both conceptually and emotionally. I was already enamored with the stark contrast between the angular, churning, desolate riffs and the billowing, almost angelic swaths of ambient textures – although now they came to life. Their flows mangled together at times before releasing one way or another, painting vivid scenes that are just out of the reach of words, but immediately recognizable deep down within.
I’d love to point to a single song and say that it’s my favorite. I really can’t. Each one rests perfectly among the others, coming together as a single massive narrative of peace and strife. I can safely say that Prismer I is truly greater than the sum of its parts. I did find myself listening most often to “Like the Fourth Wall”: it does seem to resonate with me a tad more than the others. Particularly during the climax, on the last repetition, as the vocals belt:
‘I see you
Show me everything
The beautiful, the ugly
Even if it hurts me,
I want to see it all
Break me like the fourth wall’
It feels like something larger than life. It’s a deceitfully simple moment, both lyrically and musically. Yet, the essence of that moment, carved from an alloy no earthly forge could make, vaults across time and space, grabs my spirit and catapults it five parallel universes away into something I’m not sure I could have ever dreamed up. It’s something I never figured I could feel sitting in front of my speakers for a few moments, or, well, really…at all. It’s fucking incredible, in the apotheotic sense of that word (if there even is one).
If Prismer I is the alchemist’s act of forging suffering into a blade that slashes the chains of a mental prison, then listening to Prismer I is the act of having that blade firmly pressed, shaking, against your chest, until the walls inside you crack wide open and light rushes in like a divine riot.
