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Fans
of Neurosis will have a field day in 2008. Not with a new
release from the grizzly men of San Francisco but with solo
releases by both Scott Kelly (The Wake) and Steve Von
Till (The Grave is a Grim Horse). Add to that And We
Wept the Black Ocean, the new release by A Storm of Light,
the band featuring Josh Graham, who has been a longtime visual
collaborator of the band. We can safely say that this is shaping
up to be the best year ever without a real release from
Neurosis. It sort of compensates that much of this material
follows the same line of what you would expect a band coming
from the sense-blowing abstract mind that puts the visuals to
the music of Neurosis to sound like; massive movements that with giant
dynamics flow in one tragic direction, brutal aural escapes
that swivel naturally as if effortlessly pushed by powerful
winds, an inherent ugliness floating amidst certain beauty, only
visible to the keen eye.
A Storm of
Light is completed by bassist Domenic Seita (Tombs) and drummers
Vinny SIgnorelli (Unsane) and Pete Angevine (Satanized); all of
whom help to aggrandize these sounds. And what a heavy mother
this is; adorned by what is perhaps the most gorgeous artwork
I’ve seen this year, And We Wept the Black Ocean Within
rocks the post-rock flag like I haven’t heard any other post
rock band do it before. Why? Mostly, because Graham is not
losing sleep about the prettiness of it all; there is no sound
shrinkage, nor surprising shifts or timid guitar growing. No
glisten, no glowing, no poses. None of that shit. Instead,
Graham offers a palette that is loud and louder. Ugly and
uglier. Intimidating and downright life threatening.
There are
sounds of nature throughout, “Undertow” starts mighty; you can
feel its power (nature’s) coming but on its way is pulling
everything with it. A Storm of Light sounds like a band that is
imitating nature. The songs in this album seem to mirror the
most devastating aspects of it. They evoke the catastrophic
results of our intrusion in evolution. It only grows more
dangerous with time and the second part of “Undertow” is even
calmer than the first half of the records. But we all know what
comes before the storm, right?
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