Travel Now Journey Infinitely reviews (in English, German, Dutch, French, Norwegian)

Lords of Metal: “Through their last couple of albums, Enslaved has definitely traded in their drinking horn for a fuming waterpipe, and even a headlining position on the stoner festival Roadburn belongs to the possibilities these days. You might wonder if these Norwegians can stroll even further from the “true” (black) metal path. Enslaved likes to confirm this with this both deafening and impressive side-project Trinacria. Ivar Bjørnson’s characteristic guitar parts are clearly audible. As are Ice Dale’s. Even Grutle Kjellson’s deadly screams are nothing out of the ordinary from a regular Enslaved album. The diversion starts with drummer Iver Sandøy (Manngard, Emmerhoff), who keeps his pace on a militaristic Ministry-like height, while at some points also diving into Cult Of Luna-like postcore depths. Trinacria really does sound different. Most songs are more like pre-studies for later Enslaved songs, with their endless riff repetitions, and wavy (non-)song structures. And let’s not forget the prominent noise elements and spooky sound effects. Those last mentioned additions are the feminine touch of Trinacria, embodied by the Norwegian noise artists Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord (Fe-mail). They signed for the industrial influences on ‘Travel Now Journey Infinitely’ and these parts especially make Trinacria sound like something completely new. We would not want this to sound like another Enslaved record, as one will be on its way as we speak. In the mean time the real metal adventurers will need all of their time exploring this little gem.” (Jasper)

Metal-Nose: “One more time Bergen in Norway has been the breeding ground of a new innovative band. In this case Trinacria originated when Ivar Bjornson (Enslaved) and two members of the Norwegian noise band Fe-mail decided to cooperate. Initially only for a few concerts, but soon Grutle Kjellson and Ice Dale (both of Enslaved too), Iver Sandoy (Emmerhoff) and Espen Lien joined this fresh collective. After positive reactions on touring, they decided to make a fully welded band of it and ‘Travel Now Journey Infinitely’ is the debut album. One may call the result a sum of all the parts, since the music surely includes extreme elements of Enslaved, but most of all it has an experimental, trance-inducing touch with some industrial influences. These are six extensive sound-collages where repetitive guitar patterns are sometimes calm, but they always evolve towards massive walls of sound with lots of distortion and effects. A track such as ‘The Silence’ has chaotic and dissonant moments, but also whispering fragments and a part with peaceful acoustic guitars. My favourites are the compelling, slow ‘Endless Roads’ with its quiescent instrumental prologue and the nine minutes long title track in which the serene vocals of Maja S.K. Ratkje are in beautiful contrast with the rough primeval vocals of Grutle Kjellson. This is really dark and occult, especially when an extreme outburst leads towards a cataract of conjuring sounds. For some people, Trinacria will have a near approach to the ingenuity of bands like Isis and Solstafir; for others it will be a complex pulp of sounds they will never get used to. For me, after a few spins I started to feel excited about the original music we hear on ‘Travel Now Journey Infinitely’. 8.5/10” (Vera)

Top 10 Albums of the Decade – Trinacria “Travel Now Journey Infinitely”

Posted on December 20, 2009 by Victhor The Viking: “From avant jazz to avant metal, if you do not have Trinacria‘s Travel Now Journey Infinitely, then you are missing out on something unique and spectacular. Trinacria was originally a composition by Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved and Maja S. K. Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord, commissioned by Rikskonsertene for a concert series. It is a pleasant cacophony of metal, doom, and industry.”

DisAgreement: “Black metal just all too often sounds too conservative nowadays, having steered itself into a dead end street, with hardly any hope to find a creative way out. Trinacria come from Norway, which sounds already like a cliché, but the conceptual origins of their album Travel Now Journey Infinitely makes sure that this will be anything but a run of the mill genre album. Instead its heavy reliance on form even sometimes endangers it of becoming too arty. But let’s start at the beginning. Trinacria began originally as a project between Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjornson and the female experimental electro-industrial duo Fe-Mail, commissioned to play a series of concerts together. More and more members, most of them from Enslaved, joined the bill, making Trinacria eventually a real band. Travel Now Journey Infinitely is a six-parted piece where the septet is playing with the limitations of the black metal genres, which guarantees from the start that this CD never sounds like anything you have heard before, but it’s genre-hopping just too often to make it a very coherent ensemble. The opener Turn-Away is a heavily plodding start but is followed by the excellent The Silence, where progressive black metal à la Emperor is turned through an industrial mangler, making for a whole new listening experience. The symphonic, nearly ten minute long title track which concludes the album is another transcendental experience, where horns are elevating the music into majestic regions. But most of the time, Trinacria try to get their charm of confronting hyperspeed black metal with noisy industrial collages, and it works. Make No Mistake for instance is an example how Steel Pole Bath Tub would have sounded, had they smeared their faces with corpse paint. But they are always best when the final result sounds more homogenic, as on the less noisy parts. Travel Now Journey Infinitely is a courageous crossover that the black metal genre hasn’t seen in this form yet, and that alone deserves respect. Always good, sometimes sublime, it definitely deserves to be checked out by fans of the dark arts, but also by everybody else who’s into transgressing artistic frontiers. 8/10”

All About Jazz: “What happens if you cross a macho, brutal metal outfit with a duo of fearless female improvisers? Someone in Rikskonsertene, the Norwegian National Concert Institute, probably had a vague idea, otherwise Trinacria, named after the ancient symbol of an eye enclosed by a pyramid (as shown on the American dollar), would not have been born. This bold attempt matches two outfits. The Fe-Mail duo of composer/vocalist Maja. S.K. Ratkje and horn player Hild Sofie Tafjord, with both doubling on electronics, are known for their ability to produce a rich texture of noise. Three members of the Bergen-based progressive metal group Enslaved—guitarist/composer Ivar Bjørnson, second guitarist Ice Dale and growling vocalist Grutle Kjellson—are joined by drummer Iver Sandøy of the also Bergen-based psychedelic metal outfit Emmerhoff & The Melancholy Babies, and bassist Espen Lien. The outcome is, as expected, quite extreme sonically and conceptually, but offers a unique experience for those ready to crank up their loudspeakers up to the maximum. The six-part suite begins with “Turn-Away,” ritualistic thundering drumming together with resonating mean guitars methodically grinding the basic powerful theme, with Kjellson’s threatening vocals—unintelligible low growling- Rakje’s more contextual voice and the shrieks of electronics pushing the dense sonic envelope to its chaotic volcanic catharsis. “The Silence” begins as a confrontation between Bjørnson and Ice Dale’s aggressive guitars, coupled with Fe-Mail’s inventive electric storm. Both sides comment on each other’s sonic eruptions in super-fast manner, until they unite for a short feedback-laden improvisation that ultimately evolves into a metal anthem. Fe-Mail frames “Make No Mistake” with a typically uncompromising and brutal assault of everyone involved; an intriguingly noisy ornament that add a welcome sense of irony to the masculine take-no-prisoners attitude. The slower and ritualistic “Endless Roads” stresses how Fe-Mail enriches the sonic vocabulary of Trinacria even further. Ratkje and Trafjord mutate otherworldly sounds—snippets of blips, feedbacks, white noise—into varied textures that force their partners to adjust their assault. The suite ends with the title track, introduced by a dramatic vocal duet between the angelic Ratkje and Kjellson’s typical whispering growls, accompanied by Trafford’s distant and gentle horn. The other players finally join, but the sound of Trinacria has changed. Indefinable, reformed and richer, it suggests that even the most determined and darkest of metal machos can contain creative feminine energy. The Trinacria symbol has long been considered a coded emblem of international conspiracy. This demanding abstraction of extremes may suggest some form of occult symbolism, but regardless of such a theme, Trinacria offers a one-time experience that is clearly not for the casual listener. You’ll either run away for your life or surrender totally.” (Eyal Hareuveni)

Metal Storm: “Trinacria is a new band from Norway with members famous for Enslaved. Their style can be best described as “Psychedelic Black metal”, a style which is now being developed and popularized by Nachtmystium. Trinacria is more than just psychedelic though and embraces a much larger part of the musical spectrum than Nachtmystium does. “Travel Now Journey Infinitely” contains influences of Pink Floyd, Ambient and Shoegaze, but also of the dissonance and chaos of Deathspell Omega (most of the riffs and drumming in “The Silence”). Add to that that the band consists of members all with their feet in different genres, namely Black/Prog (Enslaved), Hard-Rock (Audrey Horne) and Noise (Fe-Mail). With such varying bands the result must be diverse too and it sure is. To give a bit of an idea: the first track is a trance-inducing drum-oriented dreamy song, while the second track “The Silence” is dissonant and dangerous. After that “Make No Mistake” is surprisingly straight-forward and direct. No longer surprising, the mood changes again and let’s stop at that, the message should be clear now: this album is diverse. For some it might be a little too diverse, I’m afraid. You’re going to have to like or be open to a broad range of styles. Another thing that might put people off is that although it utilizes plenty of extreme vocals (check the horrifying wails in the title track) and distortion, it could have done with a bit more Black metal. A bit more of a bite would definitely increase the impact of both the aggressive and introvert parts. At the same time it would further estrange the listener. However, it is here and it is now and it is what it is and “Travel Now Journey Infinitely” is definitely worthy of occupying my here and now. Good album, good band and a bright prospect. Performance: 8, Songwriting: 7, Originality: 8, Production: 7″ (Lucas)

Invisible Oranges: “Trinacria is a collaboration between 3/5 of Enslaved – everyone but the rhythm section – and Fe-Mail, a noise duo comprised of Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord. (The former is a prolific composer and performer whose 2002 album Voice was co-produced by noise terrorists Jazzkammer.) The project began as a concert commissioned by a Norwegian cultural organization, then grew into a full-fledged band. It’s an uneasy marriage. The six tracks of Travel Now Journey Infinitely (Season of Mist/Indie, 2008) are too long, yet they contain kernels of great inspiration (except for the 10-minute “Endless Roads,” which indeed feels interminable). Enslaved explores avenues beyond its recent ’70s prog leanings: Neurosis slow burn, industrial thrash, straight-ahead black metal. Given its seed and the length of its tracks, the record feels like it’s missing a visual component. Concert photos, as well as the gorgeous packaging (the fiery reds recall Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked), bear this out. Still, it’s interesting to hear Fe-Mail push Enslaved to a place it abandoned long ago: abrasion. Fe-Mail’s noise whips up thrillingly harsh climaxes, and for once metal is the gentler part of the equation. The last track has haunting female singing that mushrooms into Runhild Gammelsaeter-esque mania that, like much of this record, is both fascinating and unlistenable.”

Ground and Sky: “On paper, this is one of the most exciting collaborations in recent memory: black metal legends Enslaved and noise duo Fe-Mail, brought together through inspired state sponsorship. Enslaved are no longer a particularly innovative metal band, but they are by far one of the genre’s most competent groups, having churned out three or four across-the-board excellent albums in a row. I am mostly familiar with Fe-Mail through Maja Ratkje, whose diversity of recordings run the gamut from electronic noise to solo voice to Western classical-style composition (a diversity well-represented on the recent Tzadik compilation River Mouth Echoes). At first glance one might think that metal and noise would work well together without much fuss; however, when one considers that typical metal composition — perhaps especially in the various extreme metal genres — demands a high level of structure and precision, throwing free-form, often unstructured noise into the mix suddenly seems a bit more complicated. Trinacria tackle the problem in a somewhat surprising way: they end up making what sounds like Enslaved with extra doom metal influences, plus a few moments of swirling noises added in. Indeed, the fact that Travel Now, Journey Endlessly sounds like a riff-oriented metal album with a couple guests on electronics is a little disappointing. It helps that the riffs are huge and that Grutle Kjellson’s vocal performance is equally impactful, but the repetitive nature of the compositions and the way that Ratkje and Tafjord’s contributions seemed to be submerged under mostly straightforward guitar riffs makes me wonder what could have been. Another missed opportunity is the fact that Ratkje’s remarkable and diverse vocal talents are hardly put to use at all. The beginning of the title track features her singing wordlessly and forlornly before the inevitable wave of thunderous guitars explode onto the scene, but her vast range and capability for vocal improvisation is never explored. To be fair, it’s difficult to imagine how those abilities would have fit into the context of extreme metal, but I would have loved to have been privy to an experiment, successful or not. All this isn’t to say that Travel Now, Journey Infinitely is a complete failure, though. It is, if nothing else, a very enjoyable riff-based black/doom metal record. “Make No Mistake” is perhaps the best track on the album, featuring skull-crushing riffs and regular interludes into which Ratkje and Tafjord insert uncompromising screeches of noise that are somehow refreshing breaks from the onslaught of guitars, drums and screamed vocals. Each of the other tracks has something to be lauded, which makes me hope that this collaboration will continue on, and push the limits a little further in the future.” (Brandon Wu)

Trashpit: “Featuring members of Enslaved, Audrey Horne and Fe-Mail, one could consider Trinacria a supergroup. Rather than rest on their collective laurels, however, the band instead pushes the envelope of heavy music, actively seeking new methods of aural torture. The results of these labors rests in 2008’s Travel Now Journey Infinitely, an album which dwells in the hinterlands between black metal and noise rock. Over the course of its vast and startling trek, listeners will realize just how beautiful yet brutal the phenomenon of sound is. Starting with the hypnotic “Turn Away,” Travel initially feels like a long and winding road brimming with all manner of attractions. The song meshes droning riffs with a rhythmic drum line, producing a hallucinogenic effect. Breaking the monotony is a series of monstrous growls, followed by a guitar solo drenched in speaker fuzz. And just like that, the song ends, revealing a destination completely removed from the original journey. The next stop on the tour is “The Silence,” a hazy mix of hollow-sounding blastbeats and atonal guitar washes. Joining the chaos are random feedback squalls, the likes of which jump out with no warning or logical order. Building up into a thunderstorm of noisy dissonance, the downpour vanishes into a moment of clear guitar chords tangoing with twisting metal riffs. Schizophrenic and delirious, the song displays equal parts beauty and belligerence. “Make No Mistake,” meanwhile, kicks off with an amplifier howl before launching into a sloppy, punked-out black metal attack. The most interesting trait of this song is its disorienting atmosphere; at some points, it stabs with bursts of noise, at others with thrashing leads. Next in line is “Endless Roads,” a sinister slice of experimental metal. Soft, ringing ambiance collides with moody guitar strums, eventually overflowing into a torrent of gloomy riffing. Relentlessly pounding, the song’s startling finale leaves plenty of lingering tension. Sadly, the brief “Breach” barely capitalizes on this momentum. Short and unfocused, it twists and turns in circles, never really going anywhere at all. The album’s title track, however, is such a stunning work of art all is forgiven. Ominous hums dance in the dark with sorrowful female vocals, producing a world of sadness and despair. As these wails build in urgency, they boil over into outright shrieking. This is next replaced by driving guitars and deep howls, all of which assault the senses with a powerfully desolate sonic landscape. By song’s end, even the most skeptical of metalheads will believe in this unusual band. Though at times rough around the edges, Travel Now Journey Infinitely is a promising and unusual debut. Trinacria’s various members have produced what sounds like a cross between Enslaved, A Perfect Circle and even Converge. For those who have ears for such a bizarre style, this will hit the spot. Rating 8.5″ (Mark Hensch)

Metal Review: “From Wikipedia, “Trinacria is both an alternative name for Sicily and its national symbol (an ancient form of the Triskelion), which also appears on its flag.” In case you don’t have a Word-A-Day calendar, a triskelion is “a symbol consisting of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs, or any similar symbol with three protrusions and a threefold rotational symmetry.” (Notable examples of triskelions include the Klingon symbol and the crest of United States Department Of Transportation. Don’t say I never taught you anything, kids.) If you ask me, Trinacria is kind of an odd choice of names for a Norwegian experimental noise/black metal band comprised of members of Enslaved and Fe-mail, but to quote guitarist Ivor Bjornson by way of explanation, “It is a part of the occult symbolic tradition, which fits perfectly with Trinacria’s scope, if there is any.” Yes, it’s always a good idea to admit in interviews that even you yourself are unsure if your band has scope… Even with Ivor’s modesty, it’s safe to say that Trinacria has scope, both breadth and depth. They’re stepping outside the lines of traditional black metal, combining the two bands’ generally disparate aesthetics. Travel Now is an interesting listen—about half of it is accessible, somewhat-familiar territory for Enslaved fans, that band’s progressive blackness forming the musical foundation upon which Trinacria’s noise component skreeks and scraps away. For the most part, Travel Now is Blut Aus Nord-styled black metal with weirdness, alternating between fast-paced, heavily noised-out blackness and a spacey hypnotic (read: repetitive) midtempo, with simple riffs and noisy squeals sitting side by side, boring a hole into the listener’s brain whilst simultaneously numbing his/her senses. The album is divided into six parts, with “Part III: Make No Mistake” my personal favorite and the best coalescing of the band’s ideal. That particular track is heavier on the black metal elements, with Grujtle’s vocals and squealing synths atop dissonant riffing. Much of Travel Now relies upon a black-metal-cum-krautrock mid-tempo repetition, droning along on a single icy riff whilst the ladies of Fe-mail make their synths and samples go “whoosh” and “skronk” and “shhhh” across it all. Although I was initially a bit underwhelmed with the less metallic tracks, upon closer and deeper listens, I found the whole disc to be an interesting record, simultaneously as simplistic as I’d initially believed and yet a hair more intricate, with some textures and subtleties that aren’t immediately gratifying but enjoyable with some extra effort. “Part VI: Travel Now Journey Infinitely” is closest to Enslaved’s work, although in truth and in overall quality, nothing here really compares to that band’s progressive genius. Alongside Enslaved’s mastery, Trinacria simply doesn’t feel as developed, as magical. As good as it is, it never quite transcends its second-band status. It’s challenging to appreciate, and it’s challenging in a good way, but at the end of the day, it still smells like a side project. Regardless, not to hold one band against another, what’s here is good noisy, experimental black metal, even if it’s still not an “oh, hell yes, you absolutely must have this” type of record. Enslaved fans will enjoy it, and those interested in the more experimental fringes of black metal should certainly give it a listen, but they as well as anyone else would be forgiven for not spinning it regularly, especially as Vertebrae will undoubtedly destroy it. Also, “Triskelion” would’ve been a cooler name. Rating 7.9″ (Jeremy Witt)

[intlink id="1297" type="post"]The album[/intlink]

DE:

Metal News: “”Zwischen Schönheit und Chaos” Das Projekt TRINACRIA bestand ursprünglich aus Ivar Bjørnson [ENSLAVED], Maja S. K. Ratkje und Hild Sofie Tafjord [beide von der Noise-Formation FE-MAIL], das von den norwegischen ‚Rikskonsertene’ für eine Konzertserie verpflichtet wurde. Aus TRINACRIA wurde jedoch schon nach einer kurzen Zeit eine richtige Band, sodass nun mit „Travel Now Journey Infinitely“ das sperrige Erstlingswerk vorliegt. Die Norweger – inzwischen sind auch Grutle Kjellson und Ice Dale [beide von ENSLAVED], Iver Sandøy [EMMERHOFF] und Espen Lien ein Teil von TRINACRIA – machen es einem im Verlauf der sechs vertretenen Kompositionen wahrlich nicht leicht, sodass der Begriff Extrem bzw. Experimental Metal durchaus angebracht ist. Gitarrenriffs, die sofort als die von ENSLAVED zu erkennen sind, psychedelische Elemente, Black-Metal-Referenzen, nervenzerreißende Noise-Collagen, Ambient-Einsprengsel und Postcore-Klänge halten alle auf dem Debüt Einzug, sodass von mangelnder Abwechslung keineswegs die Rede sein kann. Auch gesanglich wird auf Vielfalt gesetzt, sodass Grutles tiefes und unheilvolles Grunzen wunderbar durch die sehr ausgefallene Stimme von Hild Sofie Tafjord ergänzt wird, was besonders gut im epischen Titelstück funktioniert. Bei „Part II: The Silence“ scheinen MAYHEM ein wenig durch, während das krachig-brachiale „Part III: Make No Mistake“ eher in Richtung MINISTRY und Industrial Metal tendiert. „Part IV: Endless Roads“ hingegen ist eine lupenreine Postcore-Nummer à la NEUROSIS, die – ähnlich wie der Opener – sehr hypnotisch aus den Boxen schallt, aber bei genauerem Hinhören mit zusätzlichen Nuancen aufwartet und ihrem Titel völlig gerecht wird. Schönheit und Chaos stehen stets gleichberechtigt nebeneinander, was „Travel Now Journey Infinitely“ insgesamt zu einem dunklen, abgefahrenen und sehr speziellen Album macht. Die Sache ist im Prinzip ganz einfach: Entweder man wird diese experimentelle Scheibe lieben und sich auf sie einlassen oder sie schlichtweg abgrundtief hassen und ihr aus dem Weg gehen. Wer sich mit TRINACRIA beschäftigen möchte, sollte auf jeden Fall sehr offen gegenüber anderen Musikstilen, insbesondere elektronische Musik am Rande der Schmerzgrenze, sein und auch die nötige Zeit für diesen sperrigen, aber sehr interessanten Silberling mitbringen, der Noise und extremen Metal gekonnt kombiniert. Definitiv keine Mucke, die man mal so eben nebenbei hört, jedoch insgesamt ein spannendes Experiment, das meiner Meinung nach weitgehend prima funktioniert! Testet TRINACRIA am besten mal auf MySpace an, falls Ihr neugierig geworden seid.” (Alexander Eitner)

NL:

Metal-Nose: “Eens te meer is Bergen in Noorwegen de broedplaats geweest voor een nieuwe innovatieve band. In dit geval ontstond Trinacria uit de samenwerking van Ivar Bjornson (Enslaved) met twee leden van de Noorse noise band Fe-mail. Aanvankelijk enkel voor een paar concerten, maar spoedig vervoegden Grutle Kjellson en Ice Dale (beiden eveneens van Enslaved), Iver Sandoy (Emmerhoff) en Espen Lien het experimentele collectief. Na een geslaagde concertenreeks besloot men er een heuse band van te maken en ‘Travel Now Journey Infinitely’ is het debuut. Een beetje de som van alle delen, want de muziek is ontegensprekelijk extreem met elementen van Enslaved, maar heeft vooral een experimenteel, trance-opwekkend karakter met enige industriële invloeden. Het zijn zes lange geluidscollages waar repetitieve gitaargeluiden nu eens kalm zijn, maar onverminderd evolueren naar massieve geluidsmuren met veel effecten en vervormde klanken. Een nummer als ‘The Silence’ heeft chaotische en dissonante momenten, maar ook fluisterpassages en een stukje met vredige akoestische gitaren. Mijn favorieten zijn het slepende, trage ‘Endless Roads’ met zijn kalme instrumentale aanloop en het negen minuten durende titelnummer waar de serene zang van Maja S.K. Ratkje een mooi contrast vormt met de rauwe oerzang van Grutle Kjellson. Dit is echt donker en occult, zeker wanneer een extreme uitval ons daarna meesleept in een cataract van bezwerende klanken. Trinacria zal voor sommigen het geniale van bands als Isis en Solstafir benaderen, voor anderen is het een ongemakkelijke geluidsbrij die nooit zal wennen. Ik kon me na enkele luisterbeurten echter wel vinden in de originele muziek die we horen op ‘Travel Now Journey Infinitely’. 8.5/10” (Vera)

FR:

Thrashcore: “Trinacria a priori, ça ne devrait pas trop vous parler. A l’origine ce projet fut proposé par le Rikskonsertene (une organisation culturelle norvégienne si j’ai bien compris) pour une série de concerts et se composait alors de Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved), Maja S. K. Ratkje et Hils Sofie Tafjord (Fe-mail). Pour compléter le line-up, ils furent rapidement rejoints par Grutle Kjellson, Ice Dale (Enslaved), Iver Sandøy (Emmerhoff) et Espen Lien. Ce qui ne devait être au départ qu’un collectif de tournée se transforma finalement en un réel projet qui sort aujourd’hui son premier album, “Travel Now Journey Infinitely”. Le concept musical de Trinacria tient dans un mélange des genres, la rencontre du metal extrême et du noise en quelque sorte. Sur le papier, ça parait très original (voir expérimental) mais si comme moi vous connaissez un peu les dernières productions de Enslaved, vous ne devriez pas être trop perdu : mêmes guitares, même chant (celui de Grutle Kjellson) et mêmes riffs, on jurerait avoir à faire à un album d’Enslaved. Sur cette base de metal extrême vaguement black (comme les dernières productions d’Enslaved quoi) viennent se greffer divers arrangements empruntés au noise (larsens, cris, sons électroniques…) apportant une dimension chaotique à l’ensemble, sans jamais prendre le pas sur le reste. Comme vous l’aurez sans doute remarqué, les compositions ne sont pas légion mais possèdent une durée conséquente (entre 6 et 10 minutes pour la plupart) et se révèlent assez hétérogènes, tantôt sèches et incisives (“The Silence”, “Make No Mistake”), tantôt plus atmosphériques (“Endless Roads”, “Turn-Away”, “Travel Now Journey Infinitely”). “Travel Now Journey Infinitely” est avant tout un album d’ambiance et je pense que c’est comme cela qu’il a été pensé. L’album dégage une atmosphère pesante, dépressive et très prenante qui maintient l’auditeur dans un certain mal-être, pour peu qu’il ne se concentre pas trop sur le travail de composition. Car en fixant son attention sur chaque morceau, on s’aperçoit qu’ils ne sont composés que d’un ou deux riffs, répétés encore et encore avec parfois quelques variations, et toujours sur un même tempo (“Turn-Away” en est le parfait exemple). Ce manque de diversité est d’autant plus regrettable que les mélodies possèdent un charme indéniable ; il n’aurait finalement fallu que peu de choses pour rendre cet album exceptionnel. Il n’y a qu’à écouter la doomesque chanson éponyme pour s’en convaincre : superbe ambiance, superbe mélodie, superbes arrangements (raah ces choeurs et ces cuivres)… mais 9 minutes sans progression c’est long, voir ennuyeux parfois. Trinacria nous délivre donc un bon album, peut-être un peu trop proche de ce que fait Enslaved mais surtout gâché par un cruel manque de diversité. Personnellement, je suis resté sur ma faim, mais il se peut que vous soyez moins sévère que moi sur cette première oeuvre des norvégiens. A découvrir donc.”

NO:

Radio Revolt: Dette er ikke en utgivelse for de utålmodige. Det er ei plate du må lytte til, for den vokser stadig, og man oppdager hele tiden nye detaljer. Litt noia, litt moro, litt frykt, litt glede. Originalt var Trinacria en komposisjon av Ivar Bjørnsen (Enslaved), Maja Ratkje og Hild Sofie Tafjord (begge Fe-mail), et spesielt samarbeidsprosjekt initiert av Rikskonsertene. Line-upen ble komplettert med Grutle Kjellson, Ice Dale (begge fra Enslaved), Iver Sandøy (Emmerhoff) og Espen Lien. Etter debutkonserten på Inferno 2007 og turnering etter dette, ble Trinacria etter hvert for et band å regne, og albumet ”Travel Now Journey Infinitely” er det spennende resultatet. Albumet åpner rolig med ”Turn-away”. Lavmælt støy, seige gitarer, enkel tromming, stemmer og etter hvert også fjern growling setter lydlandskapet, og man skjønner man at dette ikke er noe man hører hver dag. ”The Silence” begynner med et enkelt, psykedelisk riff, doble basstrommer. Riffet går og går, men blir til stadighet avbrutt av breaks, tilsynelatende tilfeldig støy og prosesserte stemmer. Kult! ”Make No Mistake” er det mest metal-aktige sporet på skiva. Elektronikken bremser, hyler og hviner, og parallelt med dette setter et skikkelig metallriff i gang. Dette er kanskje den låta som kommer nærmest klassisk ekstremmetall og Enslaved på albumet; støyen gir det hele en ekstra dybde og ondskap. ”Endless Roads” er ei rolig, lavmælt låt. Lydene er nesten hyggelige til å begynne med, før en små-indie (urk) gitar kommer inn. Heldigvis glir det hele over i doom etter hvert, og støyen tones ned. Det er godt med et rolig spor der støyen kommer mer i bakgrunnen, selv om det generelt er veldig fin og passende bruk av ”bråket” i dette samarbeidsprosjektet. ”Breach” er kanskje skivas svakeste spor. Introen er langdryg, og riffinga er etter min mening litt for… nu-metal. Det hele avsluttes majestetisk med tittelsporet ”Travel Now Journey Infinitely”. Oppbygningen er stilferdig og rolig, men herlig. Her kommer virkelig samarbeidet mellom metallhoder og støymusikere til sin rett. Det er mykt, hardt, støyende, skrikende i ekte Ratkje-stil, storslått, episk og nydelig. Musikken kan karakteriseres som ekstrem dronemusikk; det er i alle fall det nærmeste jeg kommer en beskrivelse av sjangeren. Plata er variert og stemningsfylt, men jeg har hørt flere si at den kanskje faller litt mellom to stoler: for ekstrem for støyfans, og for myk for metalfans? Dette er ikke en utgivelse for de utålmodige. Det er ei plate du må lytte til, for den vokser stadig, og man oppdager hele tiden nye detaljer. Litt noia, litt moro, litt frykt, litt glede. Med andre ord: ikke skiva du setter på på et vorspiel eller dagen derpå. Personlig liker jeg skiva veldig godt, selv om jeg gjerne skulle hørt enda mer fra Fe-Mail-jentene her. Trinacria har bevist at støy også kan brukes til fine og musikalske ting (det er noe annet enn ymse musikkteknologer har klart å bevise for meg), og at også metal godt kan blandes inn i dette og gi en behagelig, annerledes og variert lytteropplevelse.” (Helle Stenkløv)

VG: “Trinacria er i realiteten en krysning av Enslaved og støyduoen Fe-Mail (Maja Ratkje og Hild Sofie Tafjord) og baserer seg på en spesialbestilt konsertserie for Rikskonsertene i fjor. På denne seksdelte platen går ikke sammensmeltingen av ekstrem-metal og elektronisk støy like smertefritt. Snarere lever de to komponentene i det monotont dystre åpningssporet i for stor grad ved siden av hverandre. Først i del tre, den gitargalopperende «Make No Mistake», underbygger Fe-Mails elektrostøy den rabiate black metal-vokalen til Grutle på en perfekt måte. Resultatet er et unikt spor som fremstår som det reneste soundtracket til helvetes pinsler. Samtidig må Trinacria roses for å skape monumental musikk med til dels voldsomme kontraster, selv om doom-følelsen til tider er så knugende at den tenderer mot parodien. Samtidig er det faktisk denne dysterheten som gjør «Travel Now Journey Infinitely» både ubehagelig og interessant. Anbefalte kjøp: «Make No Mistake», «The Silence» og tittellåten.” (Stein Østbø)

Adresseavisen: “Vellykket fusjon. Metall møter støy i mektig forening med rom for nyanser. Trinacria var i utgangspunktet et bestillingsverk for Infernofestivalen der Enslaved-gitarist Ivar Bjørnson har samarbeidet med støy/improvisasjonsgruppa Fe-mail (Hild Sofie Tafjord og Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje). En vellykket konsert ble til en norgesturné, som blant annet var innom Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival. Nå er prosjektet blitt til et band, og materialet er dokumentert på plate. Takk og lov for det. Konserten i Trondheim i fjor høst ble i større grad fascinerende enn hypnotiserende. Det sier seg selv at når to ekstremuttrykk møtes til fest, blir resultatet også ekstremt. På plate er det større rom for nyanser, og det er bra. Men støyelementene kunne gjerne fått enda bedre plass i lydbildet. For selv om det er svartmetallen som danner ryggraden i Trinacria, er det Fe-mails bidrag som krydrer og hever opplevelsen. Som når det onde, monotone gitarriffet på åpningssporet mot slutten av låta duellerer med et hvesende støyteppe. Eller når det elektroniske vokalpartiet på den siste låta forløses av tunge, tritonus-spillende gitarer og Enslaved-vokalist Grutle Kjellsons forvridde stemme – som igjen toppes med horn og skrik som får hårene på kroppen til å reise seg. Låtene i seg selv er relativt enkle og mye mer dynamiske enn hva man forbinder med sjangeren. Det betyr ikke at dette er en plate for hvem som helst. Men kanskje kan Trinacria nå utover menigheten av svartkledde? HØYDEPUNKT: «Part VI: Travel Now Journey Infinitely»” (Kai Kristiansen)

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