Return to Annihilation

Return to Annihilation
Studio album by
Released June 25, 2013
Genre Doom metal, drone metal, black metal, drone, noise
Length 49:50
Label Relapse Records
Producer Locrian
Locrian chronology
Locrian & Christoph Heemann
(2012)
Return to Annihilation
(2013)
Infinite Dissolution
(2015)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 80/100
Review scores
Source Rating
Pitchfork 8.0/10
Consequence Of Sound C+
Exclaim! 9/10
Popmatters 7/10
Tiny Mix Tapes 3.5/5

Return to Annihilation is an album from the drone rock band Locrian. It was released on June 25, 2013, through Relapse Records.

Background

Return to Annihilation was announced on April 25, 2013, through a press releases which described the release as the band's “Relapse Records” full-length debut.

The group was inspired by the “band’s love for prog-rock progenitors Genesis, Yes & King Crimson.”

Reception

The album generally received favorable responses from critics and fans alike. Pitchfork Media gave the album a positive review, rating the album at 8 out of 10 and praising the album as being the group's “most provocative and engaging album to date.” Consequence of Sound gave the album a C+ and noted that the band had added variety to their songwriting on the album, incorporating aspects of black metal and blissful shoegaze. They added that the group are transposing the black metal template onto other genres along with their "contemporaries Deafheaven and Sunn O)))."

The album currently has a score of 80 on Metacritic, indicating “generally favorable reviews.”

Spin magazine included the release in their list of the "Best 20 Metal Albums of 2013" and ranked the album at number four.

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Eternal Return" 2:51
2. "A Visitation from the Wrath of Heaven" 8:25
3. "Two Moons" 4:26
4. "Return to Annihilation
  • a. "Into One Light"
  • b. "Anathemata"
  • c. "All Mineral In Upheaval""
6:45
5. "Exiting the Hall of Vapor and Light" 5:15
6. "Panorama of Mirrors" 6:38
7. "Obsolete Elegies
  • a. "Isostasy"
  • b. "Digression of Air"
  • c. "Hydriotaphia"
  • d. "In Felsic Splendor""
  • 15:30
    Total length: 49:50