Phew. Now this album has a lot going on. The band leverage their technical prowess beautifully to create unceasing tension, which starts from the very intro. They craft a delicate balance between the soothing, echoing, modulated reverb guitars of post-x influences, and gut wrenching, atmospheric and expansive skramz, to which they sometimes add whiffs of black metal - an influence that only points it nose around 6 or so. In a way, it's kind of like Seizures, but with harsh parts that I like a lot better, and way more of the even better soft bits. The balance is ever frail, and from one moment to the next the band take you from soothing calm to complete chaos, to then mix the two in an improbably functional contrast. As ever in anything proggy, the tracks meander without verse or chorus, yet they remain captivating and build singular identities - the album does tend to take a second or two to silently breathe between tracks, which separates the songs. 1-4 are an incredible run, then the soothing elven voices of 5 come as a surprise, before 6 throws sparse moments of bm-ness at ye - which I must confess aren't always my favourite sections. As it progresses, the album evolves from mysterious to progressively sadder, especially on 8 and 10, which completes the album on a feeling of utter emptiness. With the album's story, as told by comrades Mars and Slex (cheerio folks), it really hit hard. This reminds me of Gospel in that it has so many layers, so many moments, that I think I will digest more of it as I listen to it again. And I sense it might grow? Who knows. For now, I'll settle on a 4.1
2 Bumps | Bump |
