Perth’s post-black metal quintet Illyria made waves earlier in the year with their sophomore release ‘The Carpathian Summit‘ and are back with a totally instrumental edition that highlights the serious musicianship emanating from this band.
At the forefront of the instrumental edition of ‘The Carpathian Summit‘ is “The Second Day Of Spring“, recorded, mixed and mastered by Illyria bassist Daniel Hacking, which demonstrates a whole plethora of interesting sounds including natures own soundtrack, intricate and fragile guitar melodies, dark interludes, triumphant breakthroughs and an all round satisfying listen from start to finish.
“The Second Day of Spring” is the sixth track on the album and is an experimental free-flowing jam that transitions between multiple styles, including mid-west emo, folk metal and post-rock. The song’s texture polarises with extreme dynamics featuring a traditional post-rock crescendo climax. Thematically, “The Second Day of Spring” is a prime showcase of the nature elements found throughout the artistic direction of the album. Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ilija Stajić explains the thought process behind the instrumental rendition: “As the old saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, and we felt that this can also be translated in music. The instrumental versions intention was to allow our listeners to make up their own story rather than feel limited to my lyrics.”
In March “Kenopsia” and “Wilderness” lead the way for the upcoming album, showcasing Illyria’s chaotic cacophony of crafted sounds. “Kenopsia” tapped into a post-black metal niche that appealed to a wide audience. In just a couple of days, “Kenopsia” received six 4+ star reviews from the triple j team on the band’s Unearthed page, earned a spot on triple j Unearthed rotation, was played on triple j’s Home & Hosed, triple j’s The Racket and was added to The Faction radio rotation. “Wilderness” experimented with a post-punk vibe that was a refreshing hit within the black metal community. Shortly after release, the single made its way on to two Spotify editorial playlists, ‘Black & Dark Metal’ and ‘New Metal Tracks.’ The band also filmed their music video for it in Norway showcasing breathtaking nature shots and acting from local talent.
Illyria is Ilija Stajić on vocals and guitar, George Blacklock and James Warren on guitar, Daniel Hacking on Bass and Matt Unkovich on drums. Inspired by fellow contemporaries Alcest, Deafheaven, Lantlôs and Les Discrets, Illyria’s goal is to captivate on the gracious melodies and pulsating rhythms of their hybrid genre whilst promoting the accessibility of post-black metal to new listeners around the world. The band have already shared the stage with musical acts such as Polaris, Circles, Ne Obliviscaris, Plini, Alcest, Caligula’s Horse, Lindsay Schoolcraft and Make Them Suffer with the vision of expanding their horizons.
Illyria’s instrumental version of ‘The Carpathian Summit’ will be released on Friday October 18 and can be pre-ordered now at iTunes & Apple Music/Spotify/Google Play and all good online stores and streaming outlets. “The Second Day Of Spring – Instrumental” is available now at https://smarturl.it/TCSinstrumental.
