Rannoch | tr

West Midlands quartet RANNOCH offer a refreshing take on the progressive death metal subgenre with focused extremity, fastidious technical precision & rich songwriting skills. Swathes of ethereal clean vocals & acoustic guitars accompany sledgehammer brutality & savagely intense screams, echoing a sombre selection of lyrical influences from Lynch to Danielewski. Forming in 2007, founding member Ian Gillings masterminded a sound that presents a distinctly home-grown slant on musical extremity, referencing such artists as Ihsahn, Opeth & Depeche Mode. Early concepts resulted in the ‘Rorschach’ demo, providing a raw yet evidently considered balance of melody and harshness. Following an encouraging reception...