Three hats and one beard

Lords Of Metal

Every now and then I receive a CD from a totally unknown band that completely blows my mind. A band that is more or less ‘underground’ and not well known or famous. A band of which most people unfortunately will never know they exist at all. This CD is by one of those bands. The band is called Refraction and they are from Dublin. Founded in 2007, Refraction have sought to create an honest and original sound. Now they thought it was the right time to share their creative work with the rest of the world. Their creation consisting of a debut CD with six tracks and a total playing time of 45 minutes. Unique sound or not: this is a fantastic release.

Fans of the instrumental passages by Mogwai, Oceansize, Slint and others, will have to listen to this Irish release. Don’t worry,: Refraction is much more meta than the aformentioned bands. The four Irish create a sophisticated wall of guitar sound. One moment the wall is of reinforced concrete, the other of crystal clear glass. From cruel to fragile and everything inbetween: this is Refraction. It ranges from stylish music making to very complex pieces (note that the brilliant centerpiece of ‘Into Nothing’). Beautiful chord progressions (‘Until We Reach’) to heavy metal riffs in ‘The Final Shadow’. Six tracks cover the entire musical spectrum of what you can do with guitars. Make no mistake, also the drum patterns are very worthwhile as they define the dynamics, the smooth transitions between certain passages and the tension. Therefore, it is reassuring to know the drums are in capable hands in Refraction. Fantastic release by a band that hopefully will find a bigger audience, even though this might be difficult since their music is not really accessible to a large public.

Rating: 89/100

Sea Of Tranquility

Refraction are an instrumental band from Dublin, Ireland that play a mix of heavy metal and post rock, and this is their self-titled debut release. With six tracks clocking it at just over 42 minutes, Refraction is filled with lengthy, dense, complex, and dark instrumental songs, displaying the ample skills of John Kelly, Colm O’Gorman, Shane Reilly, and Karl Leavey.

From the drawn out sludge and thunder of “Light Fades”, to the more upbeat cruncher “Into Nothing”, to the richly atmospheric but highly complex “Until We Reach”, there’s a little bit of everthing here. The band goes more for textures and colors rather than solo spots, as the layers of guitar chords & legato lines permeate the landscape while plodding bass and drums keep everything in line. A head on collision of Neurosis and Cynic? That’s not too far off actually. “The Final Shadow” digs in deep, a crushing song that also contains plenty of melody throughout its mix of faster and doomy parts. You can almost hear some black metal styled riffing on “Mortal”, and “Diaspore” contains weaving guitar patterns that mind remind some of early Mastodon.

There’s certainly plenty of promise to be heard on Refraction’s debut, but after listening to this CD a few times, you start to wonder just what they would sound like with vocals. A few of these songs just scream for some brooding growls or wails to break up the monotony. By no means is Refraction a bad album-on the contrary, it’s quite solid, but you have to wonder just how far they can go with this style. Many of the tracks here follow a similar pattern after multiple listens, and though the CD features some stellar musicianship I’m left thinking that adding a vocalist would do them wonders. Either way, if you like dark, dense, instrumental metal/post rock, you’d be well advised to check this one out.

Wearenoise.com

‘Refraction’ is the eponymous debut by the four-piece instrumental outfit from Dublin. It’s a heavy string of dreamlike ebbs and flows, with a bleak melodic style of its own.
Produced at DATA in Kerry, the guitars, snare and cymbals are crisp and powerful, with amazing tone in the lower-end that seems to be so often lacking in this type of thing. Arranged into 6 separate but not entirely jarring sections, the splash of opener ‘Light Fades’ meets you mid-climax and proceeds to set the tone, advancing slowly upwards towards a tense progression and back down again.

‘Until We Reach’ is a great example of the understated power of Refraction – managing to melt hooks and grinding dissonance together into some sort of upbeat, yet still horribly depressing cocktail. The guitar and bass move in their own direction, often totally independent of each other, and sometimes can be found creating polyrhythms on top of the drums.

There is a definite feeling of planning and cohesion to this – like each section was a fully-formed concept entirely before anyone played a note or picked up a stick.

If you enjoy Isis, Slint or Neurosis you should line this up, but be warned – it takes time to grapple with and you shouldn’t expect cheap thrills and instant gratification. This one would rather you met its family first, but rest assured, it will eventually put on a cape and ride you on the roof of the house

This may be the debut album from Dublin’s instrumental outfit Refraction but they have been in existence since 2007, and since that time have been stoutly threatening to deliver a work of deft, august scale. After various demo recordings on myspace and the like, and some strong live showings, that threat has very much become a staggering reality. That reality is this self titled effort.

Refraction is drenched with dizzying peaks and troughs and many, many neck craning crescendos. Divided into six “phases”, the six tracks are each offering its own unique climax. However, there is still a vibe and theme maintained throughout that creates some fluency so never once does the record sound disjointed.

Light Fades comes avalanching in with a pulsating intro and Into Nothing is heaving with lush riffing which culminates in an unfathomably vast climax. It’s then followed by the absurdly infectious opening of Until We Reach, and once again scales an unruly and crushing height. The first three tracks of this album lay down an almighty gauntlet and the subsequent “phases” uphold, with ease, the soaring vibe.

Throughout Refraction, there are serene reprieves interspersed, mellowed and cerebral passages that act merely as breathers until the next melee of riffs and obdurate drumming encroach. The duality of the two elements, the serene and severe, is the album’s greatest strength.

The production is crucial here to its delivery. It’s expansive and spacious and the clarity of each instrument is more than testament to this and gives the layered sound the justice it deserves. As a result, there’s a foreboding aura for Refraction’s entirety.

It’s heard with Mortal’s lead guitar work, which, succeeding the broody bass is stunning. The smooth leads weave grippingly through each other and the striking fret work continues into Diaspora, beginning with ominous walls of sound only to fizzle away to a sombre, swirling refrain that gracefully dies out, thus bringing an end to the record. Once again, Diaspora’s uncoiling is a solemn respite that allows the entire record to soak in, as silence approaches.

It could very well have been taken for granted that Refraction would drop an impressive album but nothing quite like this, a blissfully effusive record, and a debut no less.

Drop-d Rating: 8.5/10

Tomboftheopinionated

If Refraction’s self titled debut is anything to go by, then 2011 is going to be one helluva year for Irish metal! The lads have really created a great, atmospheric instrumental album that brings the listener on a ride that at times is picturesque and tranquil and is kept interesting with moments of rising, sheer epicness.

“Refraction” is the lads debut release since they started jamming (in their current form) in 2007 (even-though they did try their hands at a demo but were unsatisfied with the results) and it looks like all the practice really has paid off. “Refraction” is an album that needs to be listened from start to finish as all of the 6 tracks (averaging at around 6/7 minutes a track) flow seemlessly into each other. As mentioned earlier, each song takes the listener on a journey and the songs never bore as each tracks shifts momentum and emotion. It felt like I was listening to a movie soundtrack.

I have recently been on a bit of an “the Ocean” binge at the moment, with Anthropcentric and Heliocentric listened to daily, and this album reminded me alot of a less aggressive, instrumental version of those albums.

I loved everything about the guitar on this album. The tone was distinctive and clear, with each note perfectly audible. I also loved how the guitar lines worked almost as vocals, carrying each song from passage to passage and narrating the whole album. the drumming too was immense, eventhough at times the double kicked seemed to go off time when sustained for too long. It was also cool to be able to hear the bass and notice how it added to the songs. A great production job done by the lads at Data Studios (Which is building quite the name for itself, having been the home of I’ll Eat Your Face’s “Irritant” and Altar of Plagues).

My personal favorite songs on the album are the middle tracks “Into Nothing”, which has a killer outro, and “Light Fades”, but each and every track on this album is full of quality and worth a listen.

The only thing that I could complain about is that I found all of the song structures almost too similar and hope the guys will try and mix it up a little more on the follow up album, even maybe delving into more aggressive or darker territories to give the songs a dufferent dynamic. Theres a few hints to suggest that they are delving into darker sounds and this is something I could really see working for the guys.

With bands such as Wound Upon Wound, I’ll Eat Your Face and now Refraction releasing quality albums, the future is looking bright as the sun for Irish metal. “Refraction” is a great album that sets the standard high for all other releases,(all over the world, not just in Ireland), extremely high.

Refraction will be playing a launch gig for the album on the 4th of March in metal watering hole Fibber Magees and I strongly suggest you guys go and check it out and pick up a copy of the album while your there.

Swearimnotpaul.com

Instrumental Dublin four-piece Refraction have just released their self-titled debut through Big Cartel, and reminds me of a vocal-less Alcest. The six songs on the record are nicely textured, and shows that the band were right to work out all the kinks and nuances for the past four years before finally getting around to releasing this polished debut.

The songs themselves are long ones, amounting to 45 minutes total for just six tracks. That said, the album has a cohesive flow from start to finish which makes this all one drawn-out post-metal suite rather than a collection of trashing metal tunes. The song structures are elaborate, and seem almost build for expansion in a live setting. The guitar lines here are smooth and fully audible, with the rhythm section (particularly the bass) keeping things under control, and guiding it all along.

As I said earlier, it’s more a complete work than individual tracks, so it’s hard to highlight where Refraction succeed and fail. ‘Light Fades’, ‘Until We Reach’, and ‘Into Nothing’ contain the best sections, the most urgent, the most melodic pieces, but unfortunately the album is let down by a lack of variety. Technically superb, it just isn’t diverse enough. There needs to be more emphasis on individual songcraft rather than overall soundscapes if Refraction really want to make a great album. That said, what’s here is pretty decent.