Review by Dustin Carroll
When the news hit the Internet that infamous Isis mastermind Aaron Turner and Baptists drummer Nick Yacyshyn had begun work on a project entitled SUMAC, the collective post-metal community’s ears perked with anticipation. With Hydra Head Records shelved and Isis dissolved, Turner has been spending most of his efforts working with Mammifer and his all-star supergroup Old Man Gloom. Yet somehow in the little free time he had between his three 2014 releases, he managed to create 53 minutes of dirging, powerful music under this new banner. Enlisting the help of Botch/These Arms Are Snakes/Russian Circles bassist Brian Cook to fill out the lowest of the low end, the trio entered the studio. The culmination of their collaboration brought forth ‘The Deal’.
The album opens with a section of noise-laden ambiance and feedback, before an abrupt strumming of notes leads into a piano buildup. The intro rounds out with a series of huge, punishing chords. “Thorn in the Lions Paw” sets the tone for the rest of the album, paying homage to what you’d expect from the group, while also reaching beyond the ordinary. A series of progressive chord structures hurtles along behind Turner’s signature guttural shouts. Rather than separating the songs with interlude tracks, the songs themselves meld together, with distortion and aggression slowly fading out and giving way to a melodious outro. A simple guitar riff builds upon itself and Turner’s distant vocals become more pronounced. The song builds into something both familiar, yet hauntingly unique. “Hollow King” is thirteen minutes of these three musicians at their very best. Erratic freeform drumming, hardcore guitar progressions, and peak and valley ferocity reign supreme throughout every satisfying minute. The improvisational middle section will appeal to the inner Mars Volta fan in us all, while ending on a subtle, but sinister note of bleak dissonance.
“Blight’s End Angel” sees a bit more of a return to what one would expect from an Isis/Botch collaboration, seeing many familiar ideas taking on new form and precedence, resulting in the most driving, direct song on the album. Fans who miss the Celestial-era of Isis will find a lot of solace here.
The title track contains much of the same sludgy, discordant vibe as the rest of the album, although in a much more menacing way. While the other tracks ebb and flow with a sense of impedance and ingenuity, “The Deal” simply pulverizes the listener for 12 straight minutes, resulting in an enraged Mr. Turner shouting the album title in succession before everything collapses upon itself. This fades into the records closing track, “The Radiance of Being”, an ethereal blend of low frequency swells, Earth-laden chord work, and an oscillating pulse of white noise.
The Deal is an album best ingested as a whole. Each of the records four main tracks stands on their own, but playing the album through entirely feels like reading an anthology of truly epic proportions. There are elements of everything fans of these musicians’ previous work will enjoy, while still remaining very much its own entity in their respective catalogs.
