You must be familiar with the certain type of dread that tends to settle in when the wait between a given band’s releases tends to stretch further and further, and at some point you begin to wonder whether or not the band returns to the recorded format at all, or if they’ve lost that ‘something’ during the elongated gap. You also must be familiar with all of these outcomes, and the various feeling-related whirlwinds they can create. Of course in today’s climate, when most of everyone is online in some way or the other, it’s relatively easy to keep tabs on an artist and follow their doings, with the occasional promise of new material sometime in the near future, granted that the concept of what is near future is quite elusive. In Lo!‘s case, this particular excruciating wait lasted for six long, long years. And the payout? So fucking worth it.
Lo! are gearing up to release their fourth full-length The Gleaners on April 7 via Pelagic Records, and as the news of the release broke, so did I, figuratively speaking. Their previous album Vestigial has stayed in recurring rotation in my household since it came out, and while its excellence has gone unparalleled for the past few years, I’ve been yearning for something more, as I’m sure many of you have as well. Either way, earlier this year we got the good news, with a steady stream of advanced singles that promised great things to come, one of which we were also glad to premiere a few weeks back.
This Australian quartet is a rather fascinating one, not in the least because of their characteristic blend of different stylistic leanings, the immaculate production of their releases, the general outlook on things and thematic narratives, which all together morph their unique appearance. On paper, it’s easy to comprehend different terms and genre descriptors, but oftentimes it’s impossible to make sense out of it without hearing it. Sure, on that same paper, such titles as post-metal, sludge, and hardcore might read obvious at first, but as soon as you hit play on any of Lo!‘s doings, you realise they’re really fucking far from obvious. The Gleaners is the definitive testament to that fact.
The album starts with the minute-and-a-half rager “Our Fouling Larder”, which takes the listener as a hostage right from the start to designate Lo!‘s utter decimation upon them, and it feels like a glorious return from the band that, while never gone away per se, has been sorely missed for a while. The band is exactly like the pack of rabid dogs you’ve grown to expect them to be, but right out the gates there’s a newfound sense of atmosphere, only further emphasized on the following track “Salting the Earth”, which (like the album’s catalyst) is shrouded in gloom and haunting dread that you’ll later on notice envelopes the entirety of The Gleaners. Rhythmically pulsating and eager to follow different scents along the trail, the song finds its annihilating, bone-breaking groove during the latter half, which is basically a long-driven breakdown of grand proportions.
“Deafening Bleats of Apathy” continues on the more aerial yet suffocating pulse, bringing forth some of Lo!‘s more post-esque leanings, strongly relying on the dance emotional impact and grating beating. One of the most interesting facets of the band’s output this time around is made very clear during the first tracks, being the push and pull effect that animates the entirety and otherwise razor-sharp instrumental finesse. This dragging impression, caused by some subtle and some more noticeable tempo changes, adds a brand new kind of layer of intriguing and at times even playful nuances to the pummeling, elevating the song structures and general compositions in a fresh way. The latter halves of both “Deafening Bleats of Apathy” and the following track “Rat King” are perhaps the most obvious examples of this detail work in praxis.
The mentioned “Rat King” is the song we had the pleasure to premiere earlier, and in all of its cacophonic and sporadic glory demonstrates very well what Lo! is in 2023. There’s an immense amount of filth and perversity added to their mien in ways that take a while to fully comprehend, but once you do, makes it hit all the more harder. The monolith of a titular track acting as a watershed of sorts on the album, for example, has enough content in it to go on for days, with its haunting intro made up of a fragile and sullen clean guitar passage and a not-so-positive spoken sample, the steadily beating verses, and the biggest crescendo of this year so far, all tied neatly together with a bow made of sinews and animal hair.
After “The Gleaners” comes to its end, “Pareidolia” gives the listener a little bit of calm, albeit in this context even the softest things are like being pelted with stones thanks to the grave mood and tonalities. The track is a bridge of sorts, building tension without ever finding its release, forming the groundwork for “Kleptoparasite” to sweep in like a freight train on your unexpecting ass. This contrast, also embraced elsewhere on the album, adds another flavour to the band’s vibrant palette, which is often palpable through the compositional dynamics, well-presented on “Kleptoparasite”, that proves to be what I’d call my favourite individual song on The Gleaners. Granted that picking a favourite from a steady stream of perfection is more akin to asking for trouble than to making a point.
“Cannibal Culture” continues on the ponderous note, taking its sweet time to gather mass before exploding into full fruition, constituting of sludgy goodness and the always so nice barrages of riffage and immaculate drive. While it’s clear that the second half of the album relies more on excruciating ambiance and heavy hammering, it’s pretty swell to have moments of absolute mayhem strewn in as well. Still, this goes to show how much thought was put to sequencing the songs, as The Gleaners comes together as an entirety rather than individual tracks or moments. Speaking of the latter, the closing leviathan “Mammons Horn” thrives in shiver-inducing particulars, most notably via the unexpected ending made up of droning swells and clean vocals. Somewhat counterintuitively, the song builds up the momentum for a long while before coming a halt, and while it could’ve easily went on for another minute (or ten of them), ending things where they end now is nothing if not a strategic move.
After the album concludes, time and time again, I find my thirst quenched and needs satiated, but also notice a certain kind of emptiness lingering on for a good while. That’s not to say that there would be even a trifling mote of negativity left in The Gleaners‘ wake, but its more about being so fully depleted mentally that I don’t know what to do next. That should speak for itself and the type of effect Lo! has on your psyche, being the kind of vessel of rage and elation that they are. Simply put, The Gleaners showcases Lo! in their most refined form yet, and I can guarantee that experiencing it will destroy you, one way or another.
