It’s an unquantifiable, ethereal thing, is atmosphere. It is can be created accidentally, or cultivated with utmost planning and precision, and shattered and changed by the slightest inaccuracy being present. It’s clear from the shimmering clean guitar note that slips into understated vocal of intro/opener ‘Shadows In Hibernation’ that on their début album Silently, I Threw Them Skywards (Holy Roar) Brighton, UK, based quintet We Never Learned To Live are meticulously aiming for a pervading atmosphere of deep, immersive melancholy.
To achieve this, there is detail and precision at every step of their emo-meets-post-rock catharsis, and that an incredible amount of thought has gone into things, from the reflective and meditative backing and complimentary guitars to the connections and meanderings that link the songs. At their peak, such as on the jangling, progressive, Karnivool-esque ‘Vesalius’, WNLTL show not just an understanding of how to meld post-rock and depressive music into a meaningful output, but also that they are able to craft it into songs that provoke the desired response in the listener of drawing them away from the outside world into the introspection and immersion required to genuinely get something out of this music.
Yet, fastidiousness doesn’t always equal results, particularly not emotive ones, in the music field, and constancy is even harder to maintain than atmosphere. Sean Mahon’s vocals are inconsistent, jarring and grating as often as his flat cleans croon down another cul-de-sac. Alongside this, the creation of a continuous, similar soundscape serves to feed the feeling of monotony; as, alongside a re-occurring lack of vocal hooks – and I don’t necessarily mean choruses – there is a gaping hole in terms of dynamics (having a section that comes in with a bit of shouting and a some distorted chords is not a crescendo), and the song-writing element seems to have been lost in amongst the being neat (and boring).
Post-rock, particularly of the more morose, introverted kind, treads a fine line at the best of times, and despite moments of promise, We Never Learned To Live, more often than not, are unable to consistently produce the emotive, powerful compositions required to stand out in this field; fading, as with several of their tunes, into the background, defined as much by their inadequacies as their strengths.
5.5/10
STEVE TOVEY
There’s nothing like a new release from a progressive metal band to get fans beating the shit out of each other on social media. Protest The Hero‘s new full-length Volition (Spinefarm) might not have divided them like Karnivool fans were this year, but all the expected debates can be found over what direction they should have gone in. While the songs are still heavy and technical, they are not as spasmodic and mathy as those of their 2008 release Fortress, nor is their guitar quite as frenetic,with the shredding displaying a little less of that twiddly sound that has taken root in UK post-rock bands. But really you’re going to be a pretty strong lover of the form to see a huge difference in style from anything else they’ve done or with music of the progressive mathcore bands like Sikth and a fair bit of The Safety Fire and Animals As Leaders, although of course the vocals styles differ between these bands.
2013 is turning out to be quite a special year for Australian progressive metallers, Karnivool. A critically acclaimed new album Asymmetry adding significant numbers to an already burgeoning fan base, more side projects than is probably healthy for one band, a sold out homecoming Australian tour already under their belts AND several highly commended European festival appearances to boot, this is already turning out to be a pretty special year for the Aussies. Ghost Cult caught up with guitarist Mark Hosking in Melbourne to reflect on the band’s 2013 so far and the months ahead….
With Jens Borgen, of Opeth, Symphony X and Devin Townsend fame, behind the production desk, Boil’s thirds album aXiom carries high expectations. A concept album that explores paranoid schizophrenia and the very meaning of truth itself, it’s safe to say that aXiom is something of an ambitious beast.
Progress. If there is one word to neatly sum up the implicit expectation we have of our bands and artists then it is surely progress. To hear a band grow, develop, reach and achieve is surely one of the principal pleasures of being a fan. If that assertion is true, then the new album from progressive rock band Karnivool is an unqualified, major success.