A Storm Of Light - As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade - review
A Storm Of Light - As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade - review
Tracklist
01. Missing [feat. Kim Thayil and Nerissa Campbell]02. Collapse [feat. Jarboe]
03. Black Wolves [feat. Kim Thayil and Nerissa Campbell]
04. Destroyer [feat. Carla Kihlstedt]
05. Wretched Valley
06. Silver
07. Leave No Wounds
08. Death's Head [feat. Jarboe]
09. Wasteland [feat. Kris Force, Matthias Bossi and Nerissa Campbell]
A review by
BitterCOld May 17, 2011
The band's genre is one of those square pegs that won't be rammed into a round hole, as far as genre goes. They straddle that whole post-rock/doom/stoner thing.
Alphabet Soup, which sounds like the title of a Minsk album also has the sound of a Minsk album? amazing production that makes the whole thing feel huge and sprawling. Everything just sounds awesome.
Musically the band's tracks grow and swell, incorporating Mellow Moments ? with pounding tribal drums and thundering riffs. The band seamlessly meshes the style, shifting and sliding between moods. Josh Graham's vocals fit in really well, being more sung than shouted, they add to the almost foggy/hazy environment. With all of this fluidity and shifting, it still seems to remain grounded in somewhat traditional structures, which I think might be a factor in my increased enjoyment.
The album also features almost as many special guest appearances as a season of The Simpsons, including Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Jarboe (Swans), Nerissa Campbell, Kris Force (Amber Asylum) as well as Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi, both with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and The Book Of Knots) ? the cavalcade of characters provide some nice little touches, from wah-drenched leads to backing female vocals to further enhance the almost post-apocalyptic mood.
There are two kinds of "Very Good" albums? those like Slayer's Seasons In the Abyss, with a couple awesome tracks that floor the listener mixed in with some skip worthy sub-par tracks. Then there is the second type, which is where Alphabet Soup fits in. There aren't any jaw-dropping tracks that stand head and shoulders above the rest, nor any horribly "meh" songs that make you reach for the next button. Instead you get nine straight really solid tracks, one after another. This album is best enjoyed top to bottom.
The label, Black Label Support recommends this album for fans of classic Metallica, early Pink Floyd, Tombs, Tool, Neurosis, Swans, and Voivod.
I'm going to skip the namedropping and just plain recommend it. Check it out. Now.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written on 17.05.2011 by
Written on 17.05.2011 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments
Comments:
15
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Posts: 40071
A very good album indeed. Sanford Parker once again did a brilliant production job.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Daydream Nation
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Posts: 3857
This sounds like it'd be right up my alley. Checking it out. Great review. 
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| Posts: 15358 |
Posts: 15358
Thanks. really good album. better than i expected. a lot better.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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Posts: 1752
Nice review. I'll check them out asap. I will never understand why bands try to have the longest album name ever, but regardless, I'm listening to Collapse now and it is really heavy stuff. If the rest is like that it's a buy for me. (wich means a lot coming from me)
---- You cannot sedate all the things you hate - MM The Observer is the source of reality - Bloom God damn it!! What did Diddy didn't do? - Satan
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 Posts: 8004 |
Posts: 8004
The album name sounds about as pretentious and nonsensical as a Red Sparowes songtitle. I guess it's Josh Graham's fault. Anyway, this is a very good album, better than the half-great/half-boring previous one. Like Craig said, the quality level of Alphabet Soup (that's handy, thanks) is consistently high.
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| MechanisT
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Posts: 240
Wasteland is fucking amazing! Love the album.
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 Posts: 18612 |
Posts: 18612
Hmmm meh, found it good, but that's it... Quite forgetable for me. But still good every now and then. I'll give it something between 7,0 to 7,5
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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 Posts: 2795 |
Posts: 2795
I am enjoying this a lot at the moment Quote: this is so true , and I actually prefer this kind of albums
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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Posts: 5277 Written by Deadsoulman on 20.05.2011 at 16:55 Bingo! That made me laugh! I don't know who these guys sound like yet...maybe...The Ocean?
---- rekt
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Posts: 18612 Written by tea[m]ster on 01.01.2012 at 06:44 I thought the review was clear enough, specially the last couple of sentences. It's an good album, nothing more than that though.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| JD
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Posts: 2795 Written by [user id=28526] on 02.02.2012 at 13:57 You're welcome bor  As for the vocals, I can't say that I hear any Isole but I agree they are brilliant
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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