Wait! You’re telling us that not one, but potentially TWO records from REZN can make our end of the year list???? It’s true! Well, sort of. The Chicago outfit responsible for Solace earlier in 2023 (And reviewed by us here) has teamed with Mexico City’s resident sci-fi shredders Vinnum Sabathi for Blues Funeral’s PostWax series to bring us lucky fans seven tracks of meticulously crafted conceptual crushing catharsis called Silent Future.
“Born Into Catatonia” starts this puppy off like the lost sibling in the Old Man Gloom family tree as Manuel Wohlrab delivers the initial spoken transmissions amidst a flurry of noise and static Among others, Roman Tamayo provides “Additional FX” throughout the record) to ease listeners into what’s about to unfold. “Unknown Ancestor” begins with some serene guitar lines from Rob McWilliams and Gerardo Arias (With additional guitars from Juan Tamayo and Victor “KB” Velazquez) as McWilliams’ familiar pipes guide listeners onward following Wohlrab’s intro. Spencer Ouellette adds to the atmosphere with gently fluttering flute lines throughout as Patrick Dunn’s and Arias’ drumming and percussion accents it all. In a blink or you’ll miss it moment, “The Cultigen” is subtly segued into next by Ouellette’s divine atmospherics and those flute lines and provides a nice bridge to the decidedly more dense “Hypersurreal” which is, at its’ core, a lumbering behemoth of riffs.
“Morphing” stands on the shoulders of a persistent percussive flex from the combined REZN and Vinnum Sabathi might with a stand out rhythmic rumble from Phil Cangelosi and Samuel Lopez’s respective bass work which builds towards this gargantuan crunch as McWilliams’ voice ebbs and flows with the sounds around and absolutely soars during the chorus. Concluding this beautiful collab, “Obliterating Mists” is pretty and peculiar presenting a somber almost seven minutes of primal prodding and pokes to the proverbial bear until we’re left with devastating walls of sound and atmospherics to end these proceedings.
Silent Future drops on August 11th through Blues Funeral Recordings. Or already dropped in an exclusive deluxe vinyl version if you’re a part of the PostWax series (More on that here). For the rest, pre-orders are up and available for perusal and purchasin’ by heading here. For the latest from REZN (Including some shows with local faves Elder in the fall), follow their socials by clicking here, here, or here. For all the pertinent info on Vinnum Sabathi, the trail of their socials can be found when you head here, here, or here.