Lascaille's Shroud - The Roads Leading North - review
Lascaille's Shroud - The Roads Leading North - review
Band
Lascaille's Shroud Album
The Roads Leading North Style
Progressive death metal Release date
June 12, 2016 Tracklist
Disc I01. A Child Conspiring With The Stars
02. Compass
03. Restrain The Child
04. The Neon City, Part 1: Dreams
05. The Roads Leading North
06. Vehemence Drone
07. Sketches Of Madness
08. Unspeakably Defiled
Disc II
01. Enduring Fugue
02. What Dwells Beneath Her Flesh
03. When Sleep Takes Us
04. No Destiny
05. The Neon City, Part 2: Nightmares
06. The Disappearance Of Elizabeth North
A review by
ScreamingSteelUS July 21, 2016
Of course, I doubt any fan of Lascaille's Shroud would be satisfied with anything less than a monolithic slab of endless music at this point. We all know by now that settling in to listen to LS means setting aside a whole evening, and that, somehow, every minute leads us down a previously-unexplored musical road to a new and exciting destination. At the most basic level, crafting an album of such epic proportions that remains engaging and challenging throughout its running time is no mean feat, but Lascaille's Shroud isn't content to play the game like Saurom and fill us up with a double-album's worth of hyper-melodic pop songs atomically-engineered to stick in our brains. The Roads Leading North relies on a much deeper, stronger breed of cohesive songwriting.
One of the main reasons I suspect LS can hold a listener's interest for so long is that the albums have a unique grasp on dynamics. In the midst of so many heady progressive pieces, it can be difficult to craft a balanced album that doesn't collapse into a conceptual wasteland or exhaust the listener's energy with too many stimuli. The Roads Leading North has its tension wells and its explosive climaxes, but the album generally maintains a steady level of depth and energy, allowing the music to be continuously palatable for such great stretches of time. Lascaille's Shroud deals more heavily in atmosphere than is initially apparent; it's like something in between a soundtrack and a conventional metal album, wherein songs define moods with laborious build-up and protracted thematic deliberation, but without welshing on wicked screams and badass guitar licks.
The Roads Leading North edges out its predecessors in heaviness, production, and songwriting, showing that Brett Windnagle is definitely making improvements in his juggling of so many responsibilities. The solos are flashier, the guitars are djentier, the vocal lines are catchier, and the keyboards are more varied, omnipresent, and eerily sci-fi than ever, but we still hear the familiar, soaring voices of guests John Yelland (Judicator/Disforia) and Patrick Parris (Project: Roenwolfe) accompanying Brett's growls and the same raw, dystopian environment of LS past. This album feels more purposeful than the others and more inclined to experiment with different atmospheres or genres, particularly in the pursuit of creating a darker and more technological feeling. I can't stop thinking about the Mass Effect soundtracks when I hear the stuff going on in this release (see "Sketches Of Madness").
The Roads Leading North is spacey, hypnotic, and surreal, but nonetheless memorable and filled with sadistic sonic barrages that show Lascaille's Shroud can destroy as well as think and feel. Between the heightened standards of musicianship, the more interesting songwriting, and the generally more professional quality, I'd say that The Roads Leading North is the best work Lascaille's Shroud has done to date. The album may feel like it runs forever, but it makes use of every second - from the mechanical pounding of "Compass" to the beautiful soloing in "What Dwells Beneath Her Flesh" to the mournful quietude that opens and closes "The Disappearance Of Elizabeth North."
(This is the part where I lament that I'm not getting paid by the hour.)
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 21.07.2016 by
Written on 21.07.2016 by
I enjoy music. Comments
Comments:
10
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 Posts: 6941 |
Posts: 6941
I loved Interval I, though found Interval II to be too long (partly my own fault, likely not choosing to give it the devoted attention it may have deserved). This one is over two hours? Damn. But... I'm excited nonetheless. You seemed to appreciate it, and the you used the words "spacey, hypnotic, and surreal," which I absolutely can't resist.  Good review!
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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Posts: 6716 Written by Susan on 22.07.2016 at 06:30 Thanks! It does take a very special kind of band/album to get me to sit through such gargantuan pieces, but I think LS is worth it (and I'm not just saying that because I expect Brett to show up at any moment). I believe The Roads Leading North is similar in length to II, perhaps a hair longer, but it does have a great atmosphere that I don't often hear elsewhere.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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Posts: 64587
I think this band somehow gets fabs thanks to MS; non ever other side ever has mentioned this one, maybe mussican is ms member dude, some other reasons, another downfall to this band is, no actual band img
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 6101 Written by Bad English on 22.07.2016 at 20:31 Most likely a large portion of his fanbase does come from MS; I am the one who discovered and added them to MS, and I do personally promote THE SHIT out of LS relatively frequently around here and on Facebook (especially around the time of his album releases, LOL). Brett is most definitely the MS user Lascaille's Shroud, and there is no band image because Brett asked me to not use one. I actually had an image of him just sitting in a computer chair with his guitar (that I got from his personal page early on), and he reached out to me and ask that I delete it because he didn't have or want to do any promo images of himself for LS (and he really doesn't need any, and I can guarantee you that most people are actually not so petty as to dislike a band simply because they choose to not have any promo images of themselves for their studio project/band).   Anywho, YAAAAAAAY for LS3 review!!! Totally agree that this is definitely his most engaging album so far. And yes, it is only minutely longer than LS2. Lol. I particularly love that you noticed and mentioned that his songwriting is very "soundtrack meets metal album" in style is what keeps make it so engaging throughout; this is also why I LOVE LS so much.  Bahahaha! I snort/laughed a little at this... Quote: 
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~ 
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Posts: 199  |
Posts: 199
Good review! I'm pretty sure you ended with a headache writing so profound words! haha. No, really, it's a pleasure to read your review[s] (as always); and sums up pretty much what I think about this album. I think this is LS's best album so far. It is so awesome! My only complaint is about the drumming, because on the slowest parts I miss so much the 'human touch'... but it is no big deal for me. And I think there's nobody that could play songs like Vehemence Drone, hehe. Anyway, I'm certainly aware of the hard-colossal work programming all that drumming stuff, and I appreciate it. Anyway! I'm pretty impatient to receive my physical cd just to see the booklet and read the lyrics because thanks to my shitty english I dont' understand a focking thing. Just some lines on clean vocals...  I'm addicted to this album! 
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Posts: 164 Written by Bad English on 22.07.2016 at 20:31 No official band image because the last thing I have to spend money on for this band is photography  It's just me anyway, and I'm nothing fun to look at haha
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Posts: 161  |
Posts: 161
Steaming this on bandcamp now - I very much dig the inclusion of the story of Elizabeth North on the bc page. The extended tracks such as 'Restrain The Child', the title track, and the epic 'When Sleep Takes Us' are awesome indeed. 'Sketches Of Madness' is an apt songtitle, leave it at that, ha ha. Overall production is excellent, well done indeed! Definitely essential if one enjoyed the Intervals, thanks for the review and the music!!
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Posts: 6716 Written by Dave FC on 23.07.2016 at 21:54 Thank you! It's nice to know that people enjoy my writings. It always helps when you have great material to write about.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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