Band: Nordic Giants
Album: A Seance of Dark Delusions
Reviewer: Joe from When Prog and Power Unite
Audio Review
Nordic Giants Website
Buy on Amazon
A Séance of Dark Delusions is the long-awaited debut album from Nordic Giants, a post-rock/prog band from Brighton, England. Though the duo previously released several EPs on their own record label, A Séance of Dark Delusions is the band’s first full length effort, as well as their first new recording under progressive rock label KScope.
At its core, Séance is an album that relies heavily on sampling and ambient synth patches to create a dreamy sense of atmosphere and haunting empty space. Some obvious comparisons to make might be modern Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky, though Nordic Giants fit nicely besides act such as Anathema and Lunatic Soul, as well as other bands on KScope who are representative of the recent “post-prog” scene. The band also put a premium on their experimental live performances, which include short films, animations, and a digital mapping experience. The elaborate setup is something you might expect from an artist such as Bjork, but not your typical post-rock or prog rock band.
Musically, Séance is not all that different from the band’s earlier EPs such as Build Seas and A Tree As Old As Me, though the full length does feature some of the band’s busiest and most cinematic arrangements to date. Several songs are airy and minimalistic, such as “Give Flight to the Imagination” which features longtime collaborator Freyja. Others, such as “Rapture”, contain flurries of percussive arpeggios and driving rhythms that are reminiscent of the cathartic buildups to be found in modern Anathema.
As I was listening to the album, I found myself wanting more songs featuring guest vocalists, and fewer songs where heavy speech samples are used. While I have enjoyed albums that feature heavy sampling in the past, I found those used on A Séance of Dark Delusion to be a little bit too heavy-handed and literal. Also, I thought the guest vocalists really helped to add extra variety to the album, which sometimes starts to sound too much like itself.
Having done a bit of research on the band, it would be disingenuous of me to fail mentioning that I have not experienced the visual components the band consider to be so important, nor have I attended one of their elaborate live performances. Taken in a vacuum, Séance can sound over-homogenized and too wrapped up in its own beauty, but part of the challenge for those of us across the Atlantic and elsewhere in the world is that we are missing out on the ever-important visual presentation the band give on stage. It’s increasingly rare to find a band that put so much work and effort into their live show that their studio album becomes secondary, but I have every impression that the eyes are just as important as the ears when it comes to enjoying Nordic Giants. One can only hope that, with this new album and new record deal, Nordic Giants the momentum they need to take their show across the globe. Until then, consider me a believer.
