Crown Fire

Though Conifer has received quite a bit of critical praise they've somehow managed to live off the grid for the past six years. With Crown Fire, Conifer is finally getting the exposure they deserve. Mixing post-rock, Krautrock, metal and psychedelia, they have created this relentlessly driving and hypnotic masterpiece. Crown Fire's only vocals are from Oxbow's Eugene Robinson fronting the album's final 13-minute epic. Conifer has been writing primarily instrumental music with a lawless take on the styles from which they've taken cue. New content is found by way of augmenting brutality and suspense with time. Conifer seems to reckon with the notions of bands like Enemymine, Mogwai, or Grails while taking an approach toward their music that's entirely meditative (as opposed to premeditated). Minimal, ethereal passages are narcotically lengthened and crescendos of distortion are sustained well beyond the boundaries adhered to by many of their peers. 'Heavy' by way of being beat/repetition, heavy in not only a Shellac/Helmet sense, but in a way that is practically reminiscent of electronic discipline. Crushing riffs amidst the most ethereal, minimal moments. Six years in, Conifer has emerged from their mind forest into the clearing that is the future and past. Band members have come and gone and come again. Crown Fire is the latest battle that Conifer has fought in the war of obtuse movement. Welcoming dense riffage washes over the listener for the first half of the record, referencing pan-Asian themes and musical manifest destiny. The bombast that is their live show comes through loud and clear, intertwined with moments of delicate reflection. Without warning, it all goes wrong, the mainframe explodes, the ships crash, the tide of despair and denial rises, never to recede. Hailing from the capital of the heavy state of Maine, Conifer has an extremely close relationship with fellow travellers, Ocean. These two groups have shared a lot over the years, including members, tour transportation, practice spaces and members of the two groups grew up together in rural costal towns. Though different in sound, they're quite kindred in spirit, and obviously, Conifer is essential for anyone who loved Ocean's Here Where Nothing Grows.