Review Summary: A hallucinatory hellscape that is impossible to escape from.
With
Fracture, Errance has created an apocalyptic landscape that paints a picture of pure madness and a desire to escape, even knowing that escape is only possible through one dark outcome. It is a black metal concept album describing a barely functioning society, one that is about to destroy itself, and one man’s journey through that society that mankind itself has created. There are moments where it seems as though he may escape from that madness, that he might find a cure for both the society that he despises and the society that despises him. However, whenever that cure is even slightly within reach, he falls and falls further into a schizophrenic, hallucinatory madness.
Fracture is not the soundtrack of that descent, nor is it the story of it. Errance has instead created the full experience of that descent.
Fracture never allows the person experiencing it to fully escape. There are many moments where it will attempt to lull you into a false sense of security. It in fact begins this way, mimicking the idea of waking up and the few moments of calm that are available before realizing the reality that you have woken into, all without being positive if you are truly in a reality. Tension builds, and then there is a glitch - Both in the world and in the music. These glitches are the hallucinations and moments that wrench you from your reality into an entirely different one and are also markedly a part of the experience, as the music seems to glitch and skip at the same time that our own consciousness does. Ambient worlds that appear safe will appear. They’ll be soft, with little in them and no control, but you’ll gladly trade those goods for safety. However, that world will slowly begin to become more solid, more dark and chaotic, until all hell breaks loose and we are in the middle of a battle. Against or with whom it is not clear, as it never is - All that is clear as that we are in the middle of it and desperately want to survive. Just as soon as we start to become familiar with our new setting, suddenly another glitch occurs and we know nothing except for a need to escape. We run from an unknown foe, and suddenly, without knowing how, we are safe. We have returned to the ethereal world, where nothing can hurt us and we can hurt nothing, where we simply exist. Entirely alone. This reality is safer, but begins to create its own anxiety. One that may somehow be more painful, because it is a pain not created by any outside force, but instead one that is entirely inside of us and inescapable. We want to escape from it, but we know escape will put us in mortal danger.
This is the kind of experience that Errance has created across the 76-minute long run-time of
Fracture. Each song grows in scope, in emotions felt, in experiences and anxieties created. Although there is no doubt that this is a heavy, black metal album, oftentimes the most brutal part of the entire experience are the quick transitions between moments of calm and the raging guitars and dual screaming vocals. These are the moments where you really enter the world of the character that has been created. There are moments where the band seems to almost second guess themselves, entering this purgatory-like world for too short amounts, making the payoff not quite worth the temporary escape and instead seeming like a not entirely fleshed out idea. The experience of
Fracture is most impactful when it incorporates its glitches and breaks the listener completely out of its sense of security and complacency. 22-minute closer “The Last Breath of Humanity” is a masterclass in this story telling. Bouncing back and forth between metal and post-rock tendencies, it is impossible to keep up with the hallucinations and realities of the character, never knowing what is real or when it might change, but feeling as though it will never end - which makes the sudden ending all the more real. Our character’s suffering, after building and constantly changing, seems to end abruptly. Whether the suffering ends along with the album is up to the interpretation of the person experiencing it.
