JUSEPH 'Óreida'

Almost a decade after their formation, and five years after their self-released debut, Portuguese post-rock five-piece JUSEPH presents 'Oreida', their latest exploration in "Massive Delays and Massive Distortions". The bands motto becomes apparent almost immediately on "Heavy Sea", the monolithic opening track contains all the elements of JUSEPH's sound. From crushingly heavy guitars and pummeling, drum led riff sections, through swirls of glittering ambience and cymbal swells, the band knows their influences and executes a flawless performance here. The depth of instrumentals comes from the broadness of instrumentation available to the members, the band operates as a classic post-rock 4 piece (drums, bass, guitar, guitar) but the addition of Rafael playing third guitar or synth has clearly opened the group up to even more avenues of expression, and more depth to their ambient layering than is the norm for the genre. The synth use is quite subtle, the band aren't creating dance-pop anthems by any means, instead it will just occasionally break through the mix, like a siren in the fog, or sit just under the guitars like fog along the shore. The band references ISIS, Pelican and Russian Circles amongst their influences, and though these are certainly apparent in their sound, JUSEPH carve their own niche in the wall of the post-rock menhir. Sculpting their own sonic caverns for the listener to dwell in, listing on the border between tranquility and chaos, occasionally embracing one or the other but always in a naturalistic way, 'Oreida' takes the listener on a perfectly orchestrated post-rock journey.