Terrestrial Animal - Amorphous Sum

Terrestrial Animal

Amorphous Sum
self-released; 2019

​3.6 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Ryan Kennedy (guitar), Jason Ward (guitars), Sid Neel (bass) and AJ Moore (drums) are Terrestrial Animal. The band from Wilmington, North Carolina recently released Amorphous Sum.

​The band plays post-rock that has been around for more than the last twenty years. You can hear shades of bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky and more. That being said they can sound like a more straightforward alternative band minus the vocals. The songs are a little longer than a standard pop song but relatively short for post-rock standards in some ways.

The band gets going with “U2 Incident” and it is a slow burn. Post-rock is usually not in a rush to get anywhere and that applies on this song as well. There is some contemplative ambience created by guitars and around the three-minute mark the band finds a groove. It’s bright and avoids dark textures.

They hit upon a very popular post-rock vibe that Mogwai made popular on “Gravity.” This song is darker and strives for epic heights. That ’90s vibe I was referring to earlier makes itself known on “Below Dark Water.” There are points where the distorted power chords sound closer to Nirvana. The band goes into more classic post-rock formula on “Horizon Atlas” but again there is an alternative flavor to the song.

They get closer to psych-rock on “Cellar Door” and at moments sound similar to Comets on Fire. The band sufficiently rocks on “Methuselah Syndrome” while the closer “Permutation City” is the longest and perhaps the highlight on the album.

The band is talented and has done their homework but I rarely felt like I was getting a sound that defined the band. It felt broad. On that note the album was cohesive, The songs did seamlessly flow into each and their technical talent is indisputable.

When I was in high school in the ’90s I started to get in the bands that have defined the genre. The genre felt fairly stuck but bands like Do Make Say Think exceptional release Stubborn Persistent Illusions and a few other albums started to tinker more with the sound. I like this band but I would just like to hear some more experimentation here and there. The ’90s alternative vibe was cool but one of two more unexpected moves could really define the band.

I think the band has talent as well as potential. I hope to hear studio quality songs at some point because the songs seem to deserve that. This is a very good start and I hope to hear more soon.

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