Oniric Transition

France has long been hallowed as a grounds for innovation in the black metal genre, but what of its death metal scene? Certainly, acts like Carcariass, Gorod and Atrophy stand out for their dizzying acts of unusual technicality, but Yyrkoon, named for the original nemesis and cousin of Michael Moorcock's fictional character Elric of Melnibone, wore a different stripe. Unshackled by the scripture of brutality and convention, they've undergone an interesting evolution through their career, which was 'officially' launched with this debut Oniric Transition in 1998, after the band's Oath, Obscure, Occult demo two years prior.

This is an unusual album, or rather an album of disparate parts merged into a functional framework. Yyrkoon were at this time a stark fusion of black, death, thrash and symphonic metal, all incorporating a progressive leaning largely through the song structure and the melodic lead work, the last of which was not all that far from what Death were doing in the 90s. As a result, the album can suffer from a mild lack of coordination, but so many of the individual pieces are pleasant to listen through that it ultimately succeeds. Perhaps not to the extent that later, more aggressive efforts like Occult Medicine and Unhealthy Opera succeed, but for 1998 it was an interesting footnote on a shifting landscape of emergent and transforming genres. Though the production of the whole affair feels little more than a glorified demo, its use of horror, occult and fantasy lyrics among the atmospheric sequences and largely effective guitar riffs is still refreshing over a decade out.

The center pieces are here are the real treats, and by these I refer to the longer compositions like "Throne of Complains", "The Awakening" and "Wind of Decline", each of which cycle through a fairly expansive number of riffs on their paths to the memory. Yyrkoon are capable of busting out memorable lines of melodic death or thrash metal amidst segues of heavily synthesized epic black/death metal, and this uncanny ability to bounce back and forth makes each a joy to listen. None of these tracks stretches on too long in any one particular tempo, and at worst they could be accused of carrying too much weight. Other tracks like "Elemental Storm" and the soaring, atmospheric "Lost Ideal" with its clean vocals, are likewise curious, and the remainder of the album consists of shorter 1-2 minute intros and interludes which are more or less forgettable.

Stéphane Souteryand's vocals do somewhat hold the album back from greatness, for while he expresses competence in his various snarls and howls, it's strangely his cleans that are the most effective. Also, as mentioned, the mix is pretty weak, the guitars feel very thin as they allow the synthesizers and pianos to breathe perhaps too fully, and a remaster of this with thicker tone would go a long way towards adding much needed power to the more emotional phrases. But aside from this, and the often scattershot feeling you get when the band continues to cycle out change after change, there are not a lot of complaints to be had with Oniric Transition. It was a sound debut for a solid career, and while it bears only a passing similarity to their later, better albums, you can hear the creative larva within as it struggles to chew the brains of its hosts.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Yyrkoon is a band that changed a lot over the years. This album is their first output, and has the merit of being the most distinct of their discography.

This album is quite an experience. “Oniric Transition” deals with the world of dreams and tries to translate that into music using a lot of unusual touches. It has a lot of keyboard lines and ambient effects, some processed vocals and even the special participation of flutes and violins. The lead guitar has this orientation as well. The music has many different facets. For thrash, it is also pretty original, since I can’t remember an album that decided to follow the way of ambience and atmosphere in such a bold manner.

However, this CD is, at least in the first listens, abrupt. The multiple sections sound quite mishmash’d, detracting from the regular flow of the album and making the music confuse. Obviously, an album with such an amount of experiments and ideas would result complex and far away from banal, but even with the accessible touches the keyboards give, it may sound a bit disjointed. One may also say the use of this near-randomness was intentional to give the album that "supernatural" character but I still think the songwriting needed to be rethought, mainly to get rid of the less interesting/driving moments.

Although it’s macroscopically complex, the album seems to lack depth in the metal department. The riffs are surprisingly simple for a progressive thrash album: Most of them are unfortunately clichéd and very well known of hardcore thrash fans, leaving something to be desired. The melodic leads are more efficient, working well with the album’s melodic inclination. I’d like to hear a slight bit of shredding to add variety. The drumming is decent, nothing to write home about. Keyboards are downright the dominating sound here (too bad for the "keybrds dot'n belong in metuhl!1!!1one1" kind of people), being helped by the uneven production values (the rhythm guitar is way on the background). The bass…

There are some great moments all around: The occasional good riff/thrash break pops up sometimes, along with excellent keyboard lines in many a different style, making home for your personal way to interpret them. This album is particularly good to listen at late night, just because of the “dream” theme since it really excels at creating an abstract atmosphere. Length is adequate (35 minutes), so the album won't drag.

The album has potential to grow on you and is worthwhile. If you get rid of any preconceit and give it enough listens to understand everything, I’m sure you’ll like this more and more (that’s how it worked for me). Just think it's a good trade-off : I get basic riffage, but in exchange I have rich music to enjoy for a long time and in many different ways. If you want true standouts instead of my gaga, listen to the first two actual songs and the sprawling outro/title track.

According to the band, they spent time working with the song structures and riffs so they could create a more focused effort. And it came in form of “Dying Sun”, Yyrkoon’s next album.