b r a n d o n

On paper, this is one of the most exciting collaborations in recent memory: black metal legends Enslaved and noise duo Fe-Mail, brought together through inspired state sponsorship. Enslaved are no longer a particularly innovative metal band, but they are by far one of the genre's most competent groups, having churned out three or four across-the-board excellent albums in a row. I am mostly familiar with Fe-Mail through Maja Ratkje, whose diversity of recordings run the gamut from electronic noise to solo voice to Western classical-style composition (a diversity well-represented on the recent Tzadik compilation River Mouth Echoes). At first glance one might think that metal and noise would work well together without much fuss; however, when one considers that typical metal composition — perhaps especially in the various extreme metal genres — demands a high level of structure and precision, throwing free-form, often unstructured noise into the mix suddenly seems a bit more complicated. Trinacria tackle the problem in a somewhat surprising way: they end up making what sounds like Enslaved with extra doom metal influences, plus a few moments of swirling noises added in. Indeed, the fact that Travel Now, Journey Endlessly sounds like a riff-oriented metal album with a couple guests on electronics is a little disappointing. It helps that the riffs are huge and that Grutle Kjellson's vocal performance is equally impactful, but the repetitive nature of the compositions and the way that Ratkje and Tafjord's contributions seemed to be submerged under mostly straightforward guitar riffs makes me wonder what could have been. Another missed opportunity is the fact that Ratkje's remarkable and diverse vocal talents are hardly put to use at all. The beginning of the title track features her singing wordlessly and forlornly before the inevitable wave of thunderous guitars explode onto the scene, but her vast range and capability for vocal improvisation is never explored. To be fair, it's difficult to imagine how those abilities would have fit into the context of extreme metal, but I would have loved to have been privy to an experiment, successful or not. All this isn't to say that Travel Now, Journey Infinitely is a complete failure, though. It is, if nothing else, a very enjoyable riff-based black/doom metal record. "Make No Mistake" is perhaps the best track on the album, featuring skull-crushing riffs and regular interludes into which Ratkje and Tafjord insert uncompromising screeches of noise that are somehow refreshing breaks from the onslaught of guitars, drums and screamed vocals. Each of the other tracks has something to be lauded, which makes me hope that this collaboration will continue on, and push the limits a little further in the future. review by Brandon Wu — 10-25-08 —