Much was made of Make upon the release of their 2012 debut, Trephine, the potency of its atmospherically charged post-sludge delivered with a raw ambition that set them apart.
It might have taken three years for them to release a follow-up, losing founding member Matt Stevenson along the way, but the period of distillation provided by this stretch has only further honed their ability to create mesmeric musical worlds, lush environs ever treading a fine line between dystopian chaos and utopian idyll.
The overpowering percussion of Breathe is increased in magnitude by the all-consuming tonality of Scott Endres’s guitar, its barely controlled, nebulous malice repeatedly pierced through with uplifting leads like rays of pure light.
The ponderous and contemplative nature of The Immortal is rendered with a rich, earthen sensibility reminiscent of Enslaved – a theme that continues, adding not only a sense of maturity to Make’s sound but also a cosmic sense of profundity, on a journey across rolling fields of hypnotic repetition under gilded skies, fertile lands for the imagination that are repeatedly torn asunder.
