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Los Angeles noise-rock project, IN COVERT, are ready to put out their debut album, Bleak Machinery. The quartet was initially a solo project created by multi-instrumentalist, Wes Lopez, but was soon joined by drummer, Oscar Ruvalcaba, vocalist, Kris Balocca, and bassist, Victor Guitarrez, whose past experiences include being a part of bands like THE WARLOCKS and PHAEIC. This has resulted in this project’s blend of metal, punk, industrial rock, and even doom that helps perpetuate their themes of anxiety, frustration, and dread, making it a unique, yet stunning, listening experience.
To open the album we have intro track, Blood Moon Rises, where we can hear some dark pop synths that feel well suited to a sci-fi soundtrack with it’s creepy, intriguing vibe, especially when echoing voices start to come in. You can’t understand what they’re saying but you sit quietly to try and catch a piece of their conversation. It then blends into Blood Moon where the synths, that will remain a constant theme on the record, are joined by distorted bass and droning guitar, cementing their stance as a noise-rock meets punk band when harsh, spoken word vocals come in. What’s more interesting is when the style shifts and change, meaning that there’s no set composition akin to that of math-rock, where one-minute things are droning and screeching, the next we can hear a more straightforward alternative guitar strumming.
It would be fair to state that this album is meant to be a divisive listening experience where in some songs we can hear them follow a style and pattern that is familiar and enjoyable to us, and then in the next we can have tracks that have abrasive moments that aren’t exactly an easy listening experience. Yet you still sit ready to hear more.
In terms of the more ‘easy-going’ songs, we have Nowhere To Run, that experiments with the heavier side of grunge and drone-rock, creating something as unsettling as it is atmospheric; Night Captivity, that has a moodier vibe on par with 90s rock with artists like SMASHING PUMPKINS coming to mind with the low vocals; and Darkfields, potentially the only track that explores punk-rock with it’s quick drumbeats and fast guitar riffs that you can’t stop from bopping your head along to.
As for the remaining songs, it’s very hard to summarise in simple terms outside of saying go and listen to them for yourself. Yet, if you remember when we said that IN COVERT succeeded in capturing the sense of dread, let’s just say they go further than merely demonstrating in several of these songs, including the three interludes, The Truth Is Out There, Gates Of He//, and Ominious Dreams, that are the main areas that truly tune in to the dark atmosphere explored on the record, that could be perfectly suited for the soundtrack of an analogue horror feature.
A unique listening experience that will both entranced and unsettle you, yet regardless of your stance, it can’t be denied that IN COVERT have succeeded in their mission of creating music that captures dread, anxiety and frustration.
Rating: 7/10
Bleak Machinery is out now via Dune Altar.
Follow IN COVERT on Instagram.
The post ALBUM REVIEW: Bleak Machinery – In Covert appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
