Night Verses Captivate On Nine-Minute Epic, 'Phoenix IV: Levitation'

4 June 2018 | 1:27 am | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

Night Verses are on a whole other level here!

Night Verses are on a whole other level here!



The news that Night Verses vocalist Douglas Robinson had departed the band wasn't really a defeat for the Californian heavy group. However, it did place the fear into many that maybe, just maybe Night Verses' consistently solid output would falter; that the band going full instrumental would potentially not yield as awesome results as their past work had. Well, absolute bollocks to that ill-founded notion! As the band's jaw-dropping three-track EP, January's 'Copper Wasp', put to rest any sense that Night Verses were backing down or stumbling in their transition.

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Shit, if anything, now they're a three-piece instrumental act, they've become even more high-achieving in their art and grown even more musically ambitious too. (Great fucking news for those of us that love this band - people like myself). Case in point, retaining the ethos of their talented experimental/progressive sounds, 'Phoenix IV: Levitation' sees the American band embrace their new-found post-rock sensibilities terrifically so.

Look, if 'Copper Wasp' (somehow) didn't grab you, then this should!

Culled from forthcoming LP, the curiously titled 'From The Gallery Of Sleep', this new nine-minute gem is a masterpiece, sweeping through a multitude of different movements in the process. Aided throughout by voice samples giving hints to the song (and possibly the wider album's) discussion of where reality and dreams blur, and with the intro nicely warmed up by fast-rising electronic loops, Night Verses rocket off into an amazing musical cosmos. Aric Improta's gymnastic drum work of well-placed rests, air-tight beats, tight rolls and massive fills become the canvas for Nick DePirro's riff-driven playing, slick atmospherics, solid picking sections, and dancing pedal effects to paint over with; all the while Reilly Herrera's staggering bass work and low-end lines glue the entire piece together.

This virtuosic instrumental piece really sees the incredibly skilled trio diving harder into the post-rock and prog-metal waters, even hitting depths of metalcore and mathcore along the way. Styles aside, and perhaps most importantly, for a song that's nearly ten-bloody-minutes long, that length never once burdens the track or gets in the way of good music. Instead 'Phoenix IV: Levitation' floats along effortlessly, engaging you directly. Whether it's the intro's brief respite, the chaotic metal bombinations heard throughout, the sheer post-rock heights of the mid-section, the last third's chilling acoustic guitar section, or the crashing instrumental waves of the song's thunderous and bassy outro; it doesn't waste your time for a single second.

As fans will already know, Night Verses pay homage to the ash-rising bird on each album with a song named after the titular Phoenix. And that's what this piece is: the band rising up from the "ashes" to create something amazing. Truth be told, these series of songs are merely an excuse for the group to push their abilities even further, with often their busiest, most interesting and definitely most complex performances housed within these set of songs. Keeping with their trend, this recent fourth instalment has got to be the most impressive one yet; more so than part three was two years ago as they entered "into the vanishing light". (Suss out part 1 and 2 here).

Night Verses' 'From The Gallery Of Sleep' awakens on June 29th through Equal Vision Records.

Levitate yourself away below:



Want more Night Verses? Watch Reilly's bass play-through of 'Copper Wasp' here, or you can read my interview with Aric over here. Spoilt for choices, you are! 

'From The Gallery Of Sleep' tracklist:

1. Copper Wasp

2. Trading Shadows

3. Vice Wave

4. Vantablonde

5. Lira

6. No Moon

7. Glitch In The You I Thought I Knew

8. No.0

9. Balboa

10. Earthless

11. Harmonic Sleep Engine

12. Phoenix IV: Levitation

13. Infinity Beach