It has been an exciting year for Hereford based instrumentalists Talons.  The six-piece have always professed to be a band best experienced in a live environment – as only there can the ‘visceral, raw energy of their music be fully appreciated.’  Naturally, this ideology has led to the band playing countless shows across the country alongside artists such as 65 Days of Static, Rolo Tomassi, Grammatics, Johnny Foreigner, Tubelord, Pulled Apart By Horses and iForward Russia!, and it goes some way to confirming this claim when front man of the latter Tom Woodhead approached the band to produce this, their debut album.  How then can a band so specifically aimed at enthralling a live audience convert onto record? The answer: like nothing else you’ve ever heard before.

Taking a great deal of influence from their BSM peers, ‘Hollow Realm’ portrays more of what has been seen of the band thus far through the series of singles which have previously been released, none of which finding their way onto this entirely new effort. Opener ‘St Mary’ eases the listener in with a delicate feedback crescendo, eventually giving way to Alex Macdougall’s rolling tribal drums beneath what has become an almost signature lead tremolo guitar line from lead guitarist Oli Steels. Add to this moments later more layers of guitars from Sam Jarvis, staccato stabs from violinists Sam Little and Reuben Brunt and thundering bass from Chris Hicks; and the feeling just as at the point atop a roller-coaster on the verge of descending overwhelms the listener as they set off on a voyage of twists, turns and loops over the next 40 minutes.

It feels appropriate to comment on the length of this record, standing at just 8 tracks (one of which not even breaking the two minute barrier), as there is definitely a feeling that here is something designed to be listened to from start to end. So many instrumental artists out there make the all too easy mistake of overwhelming their audience with material such that ultimately, most of us get bored by the end of the third track and change to something else. Here however, we are offered not only a great variety of genre and style across the record, but also the opportunity to hear it all in a succinct and well oiled manner. Because of this, the album feels like some of the post-rock elements of previous efforts have been somewhat pushed to the back of the queue; and in their place appears a far more immediate, at times brutally heavy, at others teasingly delicate, but always enticingly accessible record.

It’s difficult for me to pick out specific hi-lights here as, as mentioned earlier, I do genuinely feel that the whole album works best in its entirety.  As you work your way across the release you find yourself meeting a barrage of Math, the occasional slice of Pop-Punk, a great deal of Metal, lashings of Classical, a touch of Industrial and even the odd appearance of World Music… and what I find most commendable is that in no way does any of this seem out of place.

Hollow Realm is one of those records that doesn’t come along very often, but when it does you find yourself completely re-evaluating your whole idea of what this genre is all about.  Instrumental music is forever being labeled as this that or the other; from the Scandinavian post-rock releases that are said to offer glacial atmospherics to the math-core artists presenting ever spiraling levels of complexity with each note played, each find themselves digging deeper and deeper into the generic holes that they have made for themselves. Talons… well they’re just soaring ever higher.

Follow @inverted_marko
Mark is an all-round music fanatic.

Spread the love:

•