Fall of Efrafa 'Inlé' 2x12" LP

And so, The Warren of Snares trilogy is complete and the UKs sadly short lived and now defunct (at least according to a farewell show back in October) Fall of Efrafa have a trilogy to their legacy that can be called truly special. Starting with 2006s more crusty, D beat based Owsla (‘Warrior’), then the cryptically brilliant post rock of 2007s Elil (‘Enemy’), Fall of Efrafa with Inle, (‘Death’) and their take on the writings of Richard Adams (Watership Down) have taken their vegan/social/atheist diatribes and created a climax to the trilogy that ensure the band is remembered as something truly amazing. It’s a pity they won’t get more recognition for it. Starting with some striking spoken prose from the Watership Down novel, opener “Simulacrum”, sets the tone perfectly as it builds with tense, shimmering atmospheres before “Fu Inle” lopes into view with a somber, doomy rumble and the mood of the album and the enthralling next hour or so. While certainly rooted in the Neur-Isis genre of things, Fall of Efrafa and Inle itself, having dropped the crust is now far more varied, foreboding and different than many of their peers. Of course, the whole ‘talking rabbits rebelling against a sadistic police state’ is the obvious element that sets Fall of Efrafa apart, but musically, their music matches the depth and intellectual approach of Adams’ writings. The menacing, almost recurrent structures that surface in the lengthy “Republic of Heaven” (14 minutes), “The Burial” (12 minutes), “Woundwort” (17 minutes) and “Warren of Snares” (17 minutes) make for a grim take on post rock even, with the expected builds, peaks and crushing peaks and angst filled roars. So many moments of Inle are just pure, thunderous, emotive, rending genius; 6:50 into “The Republic of Heaven”, the mid section of “The Burial”, with its segue from acoustic shimmer to thunderous peak, the brooding march of “Woundwort” (the central villain of Watership Down that gave me nightmares for weeks) and the aptly paced and structured closer that brings the entire trilogy to a fitting close with a stern but epic climax. How Fall of Efrafa have slid under the radar (at least in the US), in a time where post rock is pretty saturated with clones, is beyond me. However, with the legacy left by The Warren of Snares, especially Elil and Inle, Fall of Efrafa should be considered a short lived elite, cult act that have been taken by The Black Rabbit after delivering musical perfection. -E. Thomas, www.teethofthedivine.com