Trinacria • Travel Now Journey Infinitely
When former Enslaved member Ivar Bjornson was commissioned to produce a composition for a Norwegian concert series it wasn’t to be known that this would lead to a full musical project and then a full length album. When other members were drafted in including second former Enslaved member Ice Dale the composition became a musical project, this then turned into the fully fledged band Trinacria.
The six track release ‘Travel Now, Journey Infinitely’ is the end result of this musical collaboration, an experimental fusion of Norwegian extreme metal and drone.
The album actually feels like a concept, with each track named as Part 1 to V1, each flowing onto the next like an instrumental story. There are vocals, but they are used like another instrument the way they subtly blend into the mix rather than being the focal point. The tracks are not necessarily individual songs either, but more likened to a piece of classical music, only done with full throttle Norwegian extremity.
I was surprised to find Trinacria not as heavy as I had imagined, although it’s far from quiet it doesn’t seem to offend the eardrums as a great deal of drone metal can. The dynamic contrasts are actually quite immense also, adding a great deal of anticipation to the final build up. The same goes for tempo, I like the fact that Trinacria use slow passages and simply build these up to a final fast metal frenzy. This does add to the very definite hypnotic quality which seems to lull you into a false sense of security before it unleashes those decidedly dark and almost chaotic moments of noise.
On the whole I don’t think ‘Travel Now’ is a particularly easy album to listen to, with its occasional screeches, deadly growls, long repetition and virtually no obvious song structure, it actually takes concentration. I think with this style there is always the problem that you might be easily distracted if you turn your attentions to something else.
Trinacria have definitely given us something interesting with ‘Travel Now, Journey Infinitely’, they have unleashed a brooding, progressive, dark and angry musical project, each part beginning with drone repetition and ending with heavy organised chaos. Although it’s a far cry from anything that Enslaved gave us it’s something fans should definitely check out. It’s a thoughtful experiment, eerie in places, confusing in others and crazily hypnotic in the rest. This will suit anyone with an open mind to experimentalism and instrumentation and for those that love tracks which last 10 minutes long.
Unfortunately in the long run there are no promises from the band to continue on this path, Trinacria has been one interesting experiment and it will be interesting to see where they may go from here. I believe a live performance will be in high demand.