Emphasis – Gliding Over All CD (Geenger Records)

The best thing about throwing back in time, when it comes to music, is the fact that a lot of recordings are worth checking out once again. There are literally piles of good music out there ready to be discovered, and perhaps some of them haven’t received well-deserved attention by the broader auditorium at the first place. Once again, I am digging through the history of Geenger Records by tampering through their crates, fully stacked with outstanding titles. One of those titles is unquestionably Gliding Over All by Emphasis. This spectacular group is no stranger to these pages, and I previously wrote an article about their marvelous Black.Mother.Earth. As far as I am informed, Gliding Over All has to be their second full-length material, released way back in 2013 by the beforementioned record label.

The first you’ll notice about this album is a tremendous visual identity. The graphic solution for Gliding Over All consists of marvelous psychedelic cover artwork, probably done by mixing up photo manipulations and illustrations altogether. The front cover visual showcases a depiction of nature by merging forest with an owl, boar, bear, horse, wolf, fox, raven, and a deer skull. This formation also includes a passage to the other world, located in the center of the imagery, while the background carries strong psychedelic aesthetics. The inlay offers even more similar photo manipulations, but the background showcases constellations and the night sky. The best thing about Gliding Over All is that this visual identity goes perfectly with the sonic aesthetics of the Emphasis.

Musicwise, Emphasis explores several complementary genres to illustrate a polyphonous picture about their debut album. The group undoubtfully draws inspiration from the genres such as post-metal and post-rock, but there are other elements that are defining their luxurious performance. Emphasis bases its sound around heavy ambiance and atmospheric experience that treats listening apparatus with delightful melodies, harmonies, themes, virtuosities, and other sonic delicacies. The band continuously levitates between calmy ambiances and heavily darkened guitar shreds, but these musicians are handling both sides as pros. Besides post-metal and post-rock, you may hear other ingredients, such as shoegaze, black metal, post-hardcore, sludge, and similar genres that are matching with post-metal and post-rock aesthetics. Emphasis keep their orchestrations as instrumental as possible, but you may also hear some monologues, dialogues, chants, choirs, and screams. Most of these vocal segments are probably the samples taken from the movies or documentaries. Still, some of the band members performed the screaming parts. Each instrument resonates with so much power but retains a melodic side that appeals to the listening apparatus.

Gliding Over All is unquestionably one of the best post-metal/post-rock albums I’ve heard so far, and Emphasis puts a lot of effort into their works. Make sure to check out both Gliding Over All and Black.Mother.Earth, and keep your eyes peeled at their social media pages because I heard these guys are working out on their brand new material. Both records are available at Geenger Records, so head over and treat yourself with perfectly executed music.