Pinoy post-rock/prog metal band Yomi No Kuni welcomes you to their brand of horror

Pinoy post-rock/prog metal band Yomi No Kuni welcomes you to their brand of horror

by rick olivares

Who would have thought that instrumental bands would be popular this new millennium? Previously, when you said instrumental bands, there were the Ventures and the Shadows and the Philippines’ very own Electromaniacs.

That was then and this is now.

However, before anything else, you have to credit Texas-based post-rock band Explosions in the Sky for painting a landscape for this kind of highly-textured music as they paved the way for many similar bands. To my knowledge, Encounters with a Yeti was the first local post-rock outfit. And a couple of years ago, Tom’s Story arrived and provided a resplendent and shimmering counterpoint. Now something sinister this way comes with Yomi No Kuni.

Yomi No Kuni is a four-piece band (guitarist Kenneth Castillo, drummer Marco Banaag, keyboardist/violinist Miguel Delos Santos, and bassist Daine Daling) whose debut offering, Horrors, is like a soundtrack to one’s descent into madness.

You know the album has hooked you when it evokes all these images as well as thoughts and emotions. And your curiosity is picked from the get-go. The name “Yomi No Kuni” means “land of the dead” and is taken from Shinto mythology. The cover of Horrors by local artist Kean Mendez is evocative of the Japanese ukiyo-e style. The album’s liner notes also features eight pieces of art (also by Mendez and eight different essays that are their respective authors’ take on the eight different songs’ emotions. If the packaging is visually arresting, then music is even more so.

The opening track “Welcome to Yomi” and at first listen, sounds like a brooding and dark cousin to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”.

“…In the Dead of the Night” evokes haunting images of Eric Draven (the titular character of the film The Crow) playing a lonely and tortured guitar piece on a rain-soaked and wind-swept rooftop. I love it for its alternating a melancholic sound with a crunch that belies simmering anger.

“Jardin d’Eros” or “garden of Eros” is like some lost track from A Perfect Circle’s “Mer De Noms”.

“Judgement” and “The Dance of Spirits” leave you in a Dream Theater state.

“Our music is something that should scare or awe the casual listener,” bared Castillo.  “The blackgaze elements from bands like Alcest and Deafheaven were added much later after the songs were written. The primary influences are rooted in post-metal progressive rock with bands like Cloudkicker, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Intronaut, Boris, and Russian Circles among others.”

The potent mix of emotions aside, Yomi No Kuni doesn’t bottle up all these roiling thoughts and agonies inside. They release in the form of solid musicianship that leaves you in awe, or if you will as a play on the title, horrified.

Horrors is a powerful and magnificent debut of an album by Yomi No Kuni. Now jump down their rabbit hole.