Everything Is Noise is streaming ENCASEMENT's self-titled debut in full, two days ahead of its September 4 release through a joint venture between Hypaethral Records and I, Voidhanger Records.
With the whole record finally audible, James Thompson has explained what it is actually about — and it is not quite the grief-and-release framing that surrounded the singles.
"In essence, Encasement is an album about perfectionism," the Toronto musician said. "It's about letting go of self-criticism that no longer serves you and instead accepting yourself and reality. I have had a long-standing tendency to never forgive myself for mistakes, effectively segmenting my life into a timeline of errors. Over the last ten years or so, I've gradually come to understand how unhelpful and damaging this mindset can be — how it stifles growth, strains relationships, and causes a ton of unnecessary stress. I came to see this as a result of unrealistic expectations, and as a form of intellectual dishonesty rooted in an inability to afford myself empathy. It has taken a lot of work to internalize this, and to avoid viewing my time spent thinking this way as another mistake to dwell on."
The album then became the practice rather than the description of it.
"Making the album became an exercise in practicing this very thing. I tried to allow myself to create it freely and honestly without unhelpful self-judgement," he said. "I didn't begin writing with any specific intention to adhere to this theme. In fact, I don't think I really understood what it was about until it was done. It came out as the most natural and honest expression of something I'd been repressing for a long time, and I think this is reflected in the sound as much as the words."
It is a pointed thing to say about a record made entirely alone. Thompson played everything on it and recorded, mixed and mastered it himself — every decision his, and every one of them another opportunity to second-guess.
Everything Is Noise's verdict lands on that same one-man density. "ENCASEMENT is the project of James Thompson from Toronto, a guy capable of making himself sound like six or seven guys at once," the site wrote. "The drumming, the angular and dissonant guitar work, the creeping bass, the haunting synths, and the ferocious chorus of vocals are top tier, especially in the one-man black metal band category… Encasement crafts movements around mind-warping guitar work and familiar extreme metal tropes which, along with the morbid minor keys, creates a sensation of unease and unresolved tensions. Besides the brief intro track, every song feels like a precisely orchestrated exercise of intensity."
Six tracks: "Inertia", "Exodus", "Apparitions", "The Pillory", "Absolution" and "Fragmentation". Hypaethral press the LP in an edition of 100 on blood red vinyl, and I, Voidhanger handle the CD — 200 copies in a six-panel digipak.
Stream "Encasement" in full: everythingisnoise.net