Palms: Palms

Isis and Deftones, together at last.

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This is the news metalheads and rock fans fond of having a good old gaze at their shoes have been waiting for. Palms is the new project from Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and Bryant Clifford, Jeff Caxide and Aaron Harris of wondrous post-metal heavyweights Isis.

The results are exactly what you’d expect from that combination, and all the more magical for it. Moreno’s voice – ranging from his instantly recognisable, deeply melancholy cracked sighs to tortured and distorted howls – wraps itself around atmospheric swathes of sound, Clifford, Caxide and Harris building moments of hypnotic groove into vast cliff faces of noise.

They’ve put no limits on themselves, tracks meandering on for up to 10 minutes (with the haunting Mission Sunset) – there’s a sense that the destination is entirely irrelevant, that they’re only interested in the moment and the journey, and they make it easy to get entirely lost in their world.

Palms is a marriage made in post-rock heaven, and a further reminder of Ipecac’s ongoing commitment to signing the bold and beautiful bands striding out along their own path.

Emma has been writing about music for 25 years, and is a regular contributor to Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog and Louder. During that time her words have also appeared in publications including Kerrang!, Melody Maker, Select, The Blues Magazine and many more. She is also a professional pedant and grammar nerd and has worked as a copy editor on everything from film titles through to high-end property magazines. In her spare time, when not at gigs, you’ll find her at her local stables hanging out with a bunch of extremely characterful horses.