Minsk – The Crash & The Draw (2015)

Having recently returned from a hiatus, Minsk delivers one of the early candidates for top 10 albums of 2015 with “The Crash & The Draw”. Following the same footsteps of bands like Neurosis, Year of No Light, and The Ocean, we get 11-tracks of brilliant Atmospheric Post-Metal/Sludge music that is both complex and crushing. Returning with a 75 minute opus is an ambitious task that Minsk manages to pull off flawlessly.

Instantly making their mark with the 12-minute opener “To The Initiate”, we have a very playful track that changes moods and delivers a good amount of intricate percussions and powerful riffs to keep you listening to it on repeat for at least a day. Slowly building with “Within and Without”, the band crafts a very tight short piece to hold the listener over until the unleash their four piece behemoth of “Onward Procession”. In part I and II the band invokes their inner Neurosis with heavy and dense tracks that nicely evolve into the trippy atmospherics of part III and IV. This four-piece track showcases the band’s ambitions and excellent execution of a multi-faceted song that nicely evolves and dances around all the genres the band has influences from.

Moving back into the more experimental and cleaner high-powered music, “Conjunction” nicely focuses your psyche to more spacious and perky compositions and “The Way Is Through”, drives the prize home with Post-Rocky guitars and dreamy clean vocals. Of course there will be a culminating moment that brings back the band’s harsh elements, but it is gracefully crafted and delivered that it might catch you off guard.

As the album comes to a close with more aural assaults under the names of “To The Garish Remembrance of Failure” and our personal favorite “When The Walls Fell”, we are left very impressed by Minsk’s first release in nearly 6 years. The band is back in full-force with new members that elevate their musicianship even further, making them (once more) one of the premiere outfits in the genre. If you like The Ocean, Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, etc., you do not want to miss out on the fun of listening to this one.

Label: Relapse Records

Release: April 6th, 2015

Genre: Atmospheric Post-Metal/Sludge

Country: USA