LOCRIAN is a band that, while only having been around for about five years at the time of this review, has a large number of releases under their belt. These releases range from 7", cassette tapes, splits, CD-r's and LP's. Their sound is a mix of drone, Black Metal, ambient. One could classify parts as "avant-garde" and "experimental." The last album of theirs that I reviewed, "Rain of Ashes," wasn't my cup of tea. However, there is a noticeable change towards actual songwriting on "Territories."

The opening song, "Inverted Ruins," is a very simple song, with a series of long, drawn out notes which is actually successful in creating an atmosphere. I enjoy listening to this song (as well as the similar "Ring Road") when I'm stressed out and it helps me relax. On the other end of the spectrum, you have "Procession of Ancestral Brutalism," which is rather brutal, in a black metal sense. There's plenty of tremolo riffing along with some barely-above-demo quality sound that fans of the genre seem to enjoy so much.

However, I would classify the majority of the material on here "post black metal," and for what it is, it's actually very good. It's not going to bludgeon you with riffs or in-your-face attitude, but when I'm in the right mood for this type of music, "Territories" will usually find its way into my music player. As individual songs shuffled with other music on an Ipod, "Territories" is less successful. However, it is not meant to be listened to in that manner, which is probably why, as far as I know, this is only being released on vinyl (although I received my copy on CD-r). When put in a music player and listened from start to finish, one will be able to appreciate the full value of this release.