First Impressions
I thought I had my expectations for this band pretty accurately set. I knew they were going to be experimental, but not to *this* degree. This album is an absolute fever dream. And I only grew to like it more and more with each listen.
This is a full on lo-fi, electronic... progressive album? If such a thing exists. Every song is absolutely drenched in synths and drum machines. And of course to get a good lo-fi vibe we also need about 50 layers of reverb on the vocals.
Now, despite this being the exact opposite of the absolute nightmare that was Every Rock, there are some little signature ideas and sounds that make it at least a little distinguishable as a musical entity. No matter what genre they dabble into, you can be sure it's going to be incredibly weird.
The note choices, the dissonant melodies and chords. The dizzying and hard to follow rhythms. The chaotic nature that is only barely held together by a few harmonies or a stable back beat. It is all here, we're just getting a synth version of it.
Amalia's Theme is the undisputed highlight of the album if you ask me. It's by far the most distilled song of the record and the one that contain the best ideas. It somehow manages to be incredibly catchy while retaining their very strange and borderline unpleasant chord progressions. And the irregular drums are almost hypnotic. I also adore some of the synth sounds the use here. It almost reminds me of some incredibly old school videogame soundtracks.
All The Pain In The Wide World was definitely a hurdle to get through on the first few listens, but after that, while I still think it is the albums lowest point, it definitely grew on me. Though it is still hard to distingush most of it's parts, except for the "I'm only talking" parts.
Magnetism is one that grabbed me right away. The intro especially feels the most epic out of all of them. I love the use of very dissonant notes in an otherwise normal melody. They use this trick in almost every single one of their songs, and it makes it just ominous enough to raise your eyebrow. I've never heard something like that in this context, it's super cool. This, mixed with the constant wobbling synths and a semi standard structure, and it makes for another great highlight of the album.
Rings Of Earth, while long, still grabbed me quite a bit. Once again, it's the chorus that really made it for me. This is not a band that usually just screams their titles over and over but when they do in this song it's honestly kind of awesome.
Lastly, Brittle Urchin is a pretty good ending. I think having the simplest, shortest and most quiet song at the end is an incredibly underrated way to conclude an album. A lot of my favorites do that. After the very complicated and sometimes overwhelming songs this band can put you through, it's a nice little treat to wash it all down.
So, I admired Every Rock more than I enjoyed it. I think I admire this as much as I enjoy it. You'd think the lo-fi sound would get a little overbearing or even boring but it's quite the marvel seeing how much they manage to make it work. It was a super pleasant surprise.
Ranking
Amalia's Theme
Magnetism
Rings Of Earth
Brittle Urchin
All The Pain In All The Wide World
Score
7/10
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