Album Review: So Numb by Sannhet

New York instrumental act Sannhet release their third album So Numb on 25^th August via Profound Lore. When we reviewed 2015’s Revisionist we described Sannhet as post-metal, they’ve always been hard to pigeon hole, but it’s instrumental music that’s heavy and light, cinematic and intimate, dense but minimal. You could call them “post” something, “experimental metal,” or “math rock,” but none of that’s quite right and the band has thrown another wrinkle into the mix with So Numb. This time around it’s more emotional.

The emotion swells straight from the off with ‘Indigo Illusion’ striking a raw chord and it carries through 9 tracks and 43 minutes to closer ‘Wind Up’. The album was recorded and produced by Peter Katis, who’s known for his work with Mercury Rev, Interpol, the National, and Oneida among others. Working with Katis, the production illuminates a more open sound for the band. While Sannhet’s second album, 2015’s Revisionist, was bigger and harsher than their 2013 debut, Known Flood, they offer a more wistful, melodic approach here.

It’s pretty striking that this is Sannhet’s most immediate and ambitious album. They play with a freedom, creating an atmosphere that has its roots in the dark yet grabs you by the collar dragging you kicking and screaming to the light. It’s an album that allows you to get lost in the emotion, with tones of death and melancholy giving way to euphoria and a sense of achievement.

It’s an album that hits its stride on the first track and never dips in quality. Stick it on and let it take you away and escape in the sprawling dynamics and emotive riffs for 43 minutes. ‘Sapphire’ and ‘Fernbeds’ are early highlights with the former laying on the sentiment thick. You feel like you’ve ran a gauntlet after it, compounded by a sense of jubilation. The latter takes you on a post-metal journey through serene patches into moments of devastating riffs, viscerally powerful stuff. Keep an ear out for guest guitar leads by one-man shoegaze-metal artist, Planning for Burial’s Thom Wasluck.

There’s a post-punk feel to the brilliant ‘Salts’. The throbbing bass creates a gothic tone and atmosphere that you can’t help but be drawn into. If you hadn’t already thought it, ‘Way Out’ confirms that So Numb is very special. Chaotic and challenging one moment and delicately drawn out the next it’s a real treat. ‘Secondary Arrows’ comes out sounding like the perfect post-metal/post-rock song of 2017. Dark and foreboding in its first half it gives way to a feeling that you’re winning out and overcoming everything. Closing track ‘Wind Up’ is every bit as powerful and deals another emotional punch that you probably weren’t expecting of Sannhet.

It’s Sannhet’s best work to date, and just maybe your favourite ‘post-whatever’ album of the year.

AD Rating 9/10