Boson - Domain Of Ember album review

For a band who take their name from the quantum particle that’s fundamental in holding our reality together, there is little remarkable about Minneapolis-based Boson. Although, in their stated mission of wanting to “come up with music that [makes] you want to bang your head a little” without being “difficult and cerebral”, the quartet haven’t fallen too short of their goal. Mention of their proclivity for Amenra-like down-stroke atmospherics and throat-ruining vocal roars, however, is certainly conspicuous by its absence, given that almost the entirety of Domain Of Embers is built around exactly those dynamics. Openers Shadowlands and Mass Of Phoenix are steeped enough in the same bludgeoning hardcore as the Belgian as to be largely forgettable; it’s the latter half of the LP, filled with more textural Tool/ Isis-isms, that redeems things – Heaven’s Black Corners especially.