Amenra

Amenra

Mass VI

Neurot Recordings

***BACK IN PRINT ON VINYL!!!  Contrasts have always been deep and at the very heart of Amenra, who have been uttering prayers and holding masses for eighteen years. Tormented darkness has always coexisted alongside luminous beauty, and thunderous impacts instantly follow frail, delicate subtleties. Songs that engulf everyone in the world suddenly feel whispered inside a solitary womb. Mass VI is here, and more than any other album in the band’s past, it highlights those contrasts.   The eerie quiet of the first couple minutes of “Children Of The Eye” announces the coming storm, and the nine explosive, cathartic minutes that follow hold all the striking disparate emotions one expects from the band. This album is an emotional rollercoaster until its very last second, when “Diaken” abruptly ends at its very climax. Every band member is stretched to their physical limits throughout: Colin H. Vaneeckhout (vocals) puts in the performance of a lifetime, but he is inextricably intertwined to the guitar-work of Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove; Lennart Bossu expresses unimaginable weight, both physical and spiritual, as well as weaving melodies of the utmost delicacy; the rhythm section of Levy Seynaeve and Bjorn J. Lebon rumbles like a consuming thunderstorm or retreat to the shadows with flowing spontaneity. No love without pain. No life without death. No light without darkness. That is the conflict at the heart of the album and at the heart of what it means to be human, and this music wrenches that ambivalence out.  ...

Amenra

Mass V

Neurot Recordings

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Formed in 1999 in the forsaken fields of West-Flanders, Belgium, Amenra has conjured unholy masses and paved their own headstrong way ever since, spreading their vision of a world of unseen mystique that’s out of touch with the past, present and future. The last few years have shown the group to be an extremely confident and focused unit; besides touring on their own and with Neurosis, the band has branched out with an acoustic record, a book, and several art exhibitions. Amenra forges their path while constantly gaining followers—members of The Church of Ra, a sect, now thousands in numbers.  Amenra’s confounding and compelling sound mixes surreal melodies and warped subtleties with churning rhythms, pummeling riffs and crushing dynamics. Having found a home with Neurot Recordings, the group sets ambitions and expectations high for their fourth full-length album Mass V. Their postmodern vision of music, consisting of droning, repetitive chords alternated by gut-wrenching howls, make experienced listeners renounce their definitions of music, perhaps even their whole belief systems. Amenra puts heart and soul into every note, word and image, changing the course of peoples’ lives in the process.