Anticipating this cd for ages, I finally woke up to dicover it sitting underneath a pile of letters this morning. As soon as I opened the packaging I knew this was something special indeed. The artwork is stunning and comprises of layers of rendered clouds over a landscape. My only gripe is the fact that it came slightly dented as it is intirely cardboard and contains no booklet of sorts but that isn't important.
The first track "Nightendday" starts of in very moody fashion and then suddenly roars into life after about a minute with haunting melody underneath a barrage of slow chunky power chords which takes a few listens to fully understand. What first sounds a bit strange soon all fits together as the melody becomes more and more beautiful as you listen on. After a few repeats the guitars all wash away into the background for a bit as the big bold drums dominate the sounds until the first heavy riff comes back in along with another haunting but beautiful guitar section where the two guitarists stand out and work really well together. After another few minutes of variation another assault, of what only can be described as huge sounding guitar sections with machine gun style drum fills, come in. The quiet section towards the end of the track is especially brilliant. It starts of as quite catchy with the picked chords and good use of individual notes and then different parts get gradually introduced into the mix, some not particularly catchy or fitting at the time but by the end of the track it all comes together with another stunningly beautiful part complete with grungy thumpy guitars. The standout track of the album for me.
The feedback at the end of the first track rises for the next track "Drought". This is a much more doom sounding song with the guitars tuned down and can seem rather monotonous at first listen. This song doesn't seem to have as many layers as the first and sounds rather uninsipred. Things start to heat up after a while and the riffs all have different tempos which make it seem a bit stop starty. The double bass drumming makes an appearance in the middle section where it gets a bit more exciting where a riff is palm muted and then different notes and slides are introduced into the section where you can't help headbanging. Then the action stops for a few seconds allowing a breather and then comes storming back into action with a very evil sounding riff full of harmonics and a very interesting bass riff underneath it. The last few minutes turns up the speed again using similar power chords as the start.
There isn't much chance of rest before the next track. I think epic is a good word for the start of the next song. The lead guitar sort of sounds like a bagpipe (?) at the start and it chugs away at quite a slow pace but it satisfying and quite relaxing. Another set of doomy riffs enter towards the mid part complete with slow punchy chords typical of this album with plenty of repeating sections. A new riff is then introduced which carries on keep coming till the end with slight variations such as harmonic notes again but keeps the same template all the way through. Although the last two tracks were enjoyable, by this time I was wanting something a bit different.
The acoustic intro was nice to hear and then turned into a very nice thick and dare I say it, catchy guitar part which is a nice break from some of the parts in the last two tracks and has a typical stoner feel and tempo. Another lush guitar part is introduced with a very feel good vibe at the end and then fades into the Fifth track
The bass is intially hard to hear and is joined by some atomspheric chanting into the background and nice acoustic moments. Very peaceful and surreal, reminds me of Ulver at times and repeats throughout although it is hard to get bored and plays a bit part in the album as a whole.
Then all goes quiet for a moment and then the huge sweeping chords of the final and title track enter which is like a continuation of the first track but with a similar tempo to the third track. This is extactly what is needed as a finisher and seems to be the bands trademark sound. Again the music goes quiet for a few minutes and allows you to absorb the first half of the song. After this period another set of slow pounding melodic chords and a thunderous bassline enter along with a suitable powerful drum loop. At the height of this song there is probably the most amount of layers on the whole album with incredible melodies packed ontop of eachother every few minutes which begs to be turned up. It is truely stunning stuff at the end with a phemonminal dirty riff making an enterance and then all fades away...
I have listened to this album about 4 times so far and think it's in incredible achievement for a first LP. The maturity throughout the album is very good and the "happy sounding" parts towards the end of the album are in no way cheesy or predictable. The lack of vocals don't hinder it in any shape or form and let the music do all the talking. The only downside is that sometimes the constant repetition can get a little tedious in the second track and I wish the would've included more material on this release. Other than that this album's floored me and I think is fresher than Isis's Oceanic release! A must purchase for any metal or alternative fan. Definate Thumbs up!
The first track "Nightendday" starts of in very moody fashion and then suddenly roars into life after about a minute with haunting melody underneath a barrage of slow chunky power chords which takes a few listens to fully understand. What first sounds a bit strange soon all fits together as the melody becomes more and more beautiful as you listen on. After a few repeats the guitars all wash away into the background for a bit as the big bold drums dominate the sounds until the first heavy riff comes back in along with another haunting but beautiful guitar section where the two guitarists stand out and work really well together. After another few minutes of variation another assault, of what only can be described as huge sounding guitar sections with machine gun style drum fills, come in. The quiet section towards the end of the track is especially brilliant. It starts of as quite catchy with the picked chords and good use of individual notes and then different parts get gradually introduced into the mix, some not particularly catchy or fitting at the time but by the end of the track it all comes together with another stunningly beautiful part complete with grungy thumpy guitars. The standout track of the album for me.
The feedback at the end of the first track rises for the next track "Drought". This is a much more doom sounding song with the guitars tuned down and can seem rather monotonous at first listen. This song doesn't seem to have as many layers as the first and sounds rather uninsipred. Things start to heat up after a while and the riffs all have different tempos which make it seem a bit stop starty. The double bass drumming makes an appearance in the middle section where it gets a bit more exciting where a riff is palm muted and then different notes and slides are introduced into the section where you can't help headbanging. Then the action stops for a few seconds allowing a breather and then comes storming back into action with a very evil sounding riff full of harmonics and a very interesting bass riff underneath it. The last few minutes turns up the speed again using similar power chords as the start.
There isn't much chance of rest before the next track. I think epic is a good word for the start of the next song. The lead guitar sort of sounds like a bagpipe (?) at the start and it chugs away at quite a slow pace but it satisfying and quite relaxing. Another set of doomy riffs enter towards the mid part complete with slow punchy chords typical of this album with plenty of repeating sections. A new riff is then introduced which carries on keep coming till the end with slight variations such as harmonic notes again but keeps the same template all the way through. Although the last two tracks were enjoyable, by this time I was wanting something a bit different.
The acoustic intro was nice to hear and then turned into a very nice thick and dare I say it, catchy guitar part which is a nice break from some of the parts in the last two tracks and has a typical stoner feel and tempo. Another lush guitar part is introduced with a very feel good vibe at the end and then fades into the Fifth track
The bass is intially hard to hear and is joined by some atomspheric chanting into the background and nice acoustic moments. Very peaceful and surreal, reminds me of Ulver at times and repeats throughout although it is hard to get bored and plays a bit part in the album as a whole.
Then all goes quiet for a moment and then the huge sweeping chords of the final and title track enter which is like a continuation of the first track but with a similar tempo to the third track. This is extactly what is needed as a finisher and seems to be the bands trademark sound. Again the music goes quiet for a few minutes and allows you to absorb the first half of the song. After this period another set of slow pounding melodic chords and a thunderous bassline enter along with a suitable powerful drum loop. At the height of this song there is probably the most amount of layers on the whole album with incredible melodies packed ontop of eachother every few minutes which begs to be turned up. It is truely stunning stuff at the end with a phemonminal dirty riff making an enterance and then all fades away...
I have listened to this album about 4 times so far and think it's in incredible achievement for a first LP. The maturity throughout the album is very good and the "happy sounding" parts towards the end of the album are in no way cheesy or predictable. The lack of vocals don't hinder it in any shape or form and let the music do all the talking. The only downside is that sometimes the constant repetition can get a little tedious in the second track and I wish the would've included more material on this release. Other than that this album's floored me and I think is fresher than Isis's Oceanic release! A must purchase for any metal or alternative fan. Definate Thumbs up!
