An Evening With Knives – FNR Sessions

 

 

An Evening With Knives – FNR Sessions
Argonauta Records – 2023
Rock, Metal, Post, Sludge, Doom
Rated: *****

We were there for the release party at the Effenaar in Eindhoven, the only place they could have held the release party, since the new album FNR Sessions, is the live, but without audience in the Effenaar recorded album by Eindhoven post, sludge, alternative metal stalwarts An Evening With Knives. The seven tracks on this album come from their earlier releases. Black Out for instance stems from their 2018 ep Fade Out, the opening and closing tracks from Serrated released in 2018, and the remaining four originate from Sense of Gravity from 2020. For those familiar with An Evening With Knives it will come to no surprise that the sound is immensely thick, and that it comes in waves. For those that have never had the pleasure to see them live, this will be a good introduction to what the sound will do to you once you will finally see and experience them on a stage somewhere. Of course, it still does not do complete justice to the live experience, even if you are going berserk in whatever room you are situated in listening to FNR Sessions. For you are not going wild together with the band and the rest of the audience as those waves wash over you. That shared comradery and state of awe is still missing. However, the seven tracks do provide you with the best the band can do within those limitations. The absolute best in fact! FNR Sessions, is in that respect the perfect introduction to the band and their new drummer. Who makes it all a tiny bit more choppy and less chugging. Recorded within a circle of fifty amplifiers, the wall of sound they created, turns into a monster wave. Especially on those masterful crashes, it almost crushes you into a pulp. But the band also manages to shine on those more lighted moments, where both guitar and drums almost shimmer like silver sun freckles on the crest. The fact that Black Out is featured prominently in the middle of this live album serves as a perfect example to how the band is continually evolving. Even though the motif and lyrics are still very much the same, the song itself, the structure, the speed, the vocals, the groove has become much different, grown gigantic and into powerful thrusting entity. In all, FNR Sessions adds an extra layer to the An Evening With Knives discography, growing ever more explosive and atrociously delicious! And then we haven’t even mentioned that amazing extra feature you receive when you buy the album. A link to see the full live performance, as they recorded the album. Just check the entincing video available for Levitate. There they are, in the middle of those amplifiers, three honorable sonic warriors, ready to do battle…

(Written by JK)

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