Artist: Rorcal
Label: Calofror Records
Release: 2010
Length: 74:00
Rating: 4.5/5
Heliogabalus – the sun god and protector of the Roman province of Emesa in Syria – already inspired John Zorn when he wrote the avant-garde jazz record Six Litanies for Heliogabalus, and long before that the Roman emperor Eligabulus, Varius Avitus Bassianus, took the name for himself. An unpopular eccentric who went looking for love by prostituting himself in taverns, a decadent and a lost soul of antiquity, he fell to the stabs of the Praetorian Guard – in a plot hatched by his own grandmother. The collapse of values and morals doesn’t offer much light or positivity, and that’s the pit Swiss sludge / doom / avant-garde quintet Rorcal draw from this time around, returning with their second album. The band is made up of vocalist Junior Christophe Grannet, the guitar duo of JP Schopfer and Diogo Almeida, bassist Bruno da Encarnago and drummer Ron Lahyani.
Even the first listen offers little comfort or retreat into easier undertones. If you’re looking for solace, you won’t find it here, because Heliogabalus is a record where, over some 70 minutes, the music oscillates from the doom spectrum into an atmosphere of utterly undefined chaos. The sonic pain is shackled to heavy guitar riffs that slowly, greasily stick together into a monolith of darkness and hopelessness, which is, to quote the masterminds of the project themselves, “all that’s left in the bowels of a dead whale.” The album is a conglomerate of feelings squeezed into one single track. Electronic extras like Kaospad, oscillators and mini-Korgs wrap the record in a thick sonic cloak of nihilistic brutality, where guitars, monotone bass and slow drums melt into music with no speed-freak moments and no recipe for memorability. You won’t remember the lyrics either, which really only serve the ambience here. Despite the slow, limping rhythms, this is a frighteningly aggressive piece of work, extreme and apocalyptic down to the last fiber. In the shades of gray made famous by Sunn-O)))) and Neurosis, or Pelican and Isis, Rorcal are the embodiment of doom and post-metal’s penchant for elegies. That doesn’t rule out likability at all – if you’re after concept, non-commerciality, dark lyrics, and something that isn’t cheap and drained of substance by too much media attention and teenage abuse in the service of propping up a cheap image, then this is the record for you!
Switzerland has lately become an asylum for the new-age European avant-garde. Releases from this exotic European country have already found their way to more demanding metal listeners through Brazen, Forceed, Yog and Kehlvin – definitely not names you’d see on too many t-shirts on our streets. And rightly so, since supposedly music is meant to put the music front and center, and not some hollow image, right? Anyway: Rorcal are a real challenge to listen to, but the effort definitely pays off, because the reward is a genuine musical high point that also has a good idea, lyrics that are anything but stale, and something extra hidden from the eye. The sun has darkened. Dusk has settled on the fields of deviance. All that’s left is a standing ovation and a longing for a follow-up soon!
Lineup
Junior Christophe Grannet – vocals
JP Schopfer – guitar
Diogo Almeida – guitar
Bruno da Encarnago – bass
Ron Lahyani – drums
Tracklist
1. Heliogabalus
