Uaral - Sounds Of Pain - guest review
Uaral - Sounds Of Pain - guest review
Tracklist
01. Lost02. Surrendered To The Decadence
03. Eternal Beauty Of The Trees
04. Sounds Of Pain...
05. Niche
06. Depresión
07. La Vaga Esperanza De Ser
08. Uaral
Guest review by
Marcus June 10, 2009
The album starts off with the intro track "Lost", comprised of ambient rainfall, an occasional horn, and the piercing wail of Caudal. However, the sound completely changes once "Surrendered to the Decadence" begins. The song is entirely acoustic, with acoustic guitar and what sounds like a flute or some other type of woodwind instrument. Additionally, the vocals in these parts are all sung in ways similar to Ulver's Bergtatt. There are many moments in the album the sound like this; beautiful folk pieces idolizing the natural realm of life. Within these soundscapes, Uaral sounds a lot like Empyrium without actually coming off as a copycat.
Uaral also manages to break from straight folk pieces, and instead juxtaposes piano, organ, and acoustic guitar parts with double bass, electric guitar, and the throatier vocals from Caudal. At times, Caudal breaks down into nearly sobbing screams and laments in the midst of both heavier and more acoustic parts, which really gives Sounds of Pain dual feelings. At one moment the listener is stunned by the lovely acoustic songs and then is suddenly swept away in torment by the mastery of Aciago's playing and Caudal's tormented voice. These moods are very reminiscent of Pantheïst's Amartia, which is a great work of music to be similar to. These changes don't happen on just a song by song basis either. On the title track, the mood of the song changes several times, which is a theme recurrent throughout the entire album. The constant mixture of feeling on this album, from bliss to melancholy, is quite immersive.
The musicianship is especially impressive considering every instrument is performed by Aciago. However, it is easy to tell that drumming is not his specialty, as it is only competent and nothing more. Additionally, Caudal's vocals are sometimes taken a bit too far regarding their tortured texture, which makes them sound a little ridiculous at times.
Overall though, Sounds of Pain is one of those albums that you have to sit back and listen to with no outside distractions in order to fully grasp the true value of the music, and to become fully immersed in the worlds which it creates and the many surprises it holds.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Marcus | June 10, 2009
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments:
9
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Althou a little worse than ''Lamentos a Poema Muerto'' in the climate of the songs, the heavy parts are much better in this one. Another masterpiece of these dudes from Curicó! 
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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 Posts: 647 |
Posts: 647 Written by Uirapuru on 07.07.2009 at 05:25 Personally I like "Sounds of Pain" quite a bit more than "Lamentos"; I actually thought that album was sort of a let down after listening to this one for a while.
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Posts: 268 Written by Marcus on 07.07.2009 at 06:47 yup it was a let down.This one is much better.
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| THE_BLACK_GOD
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This band is so frustrating. I trully LOVE their music, the acustic parts are beautiful and remain me so much of my Country and my time spent on Curico when I had vacations as a little boy. Such good memories. BUT I FUCKING HATE THE VOCALS. I mean... those screams and growls don't go with the music AT ALL. One thing that the vocalist does perfectly are the clean voices which are very beautiful and folk-style classic from that area of Chile but oh my god does he suck at growls and screams....
---- 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: 3099 Written by X-Ray Rod on 09.07.2011 at 12:37 Definitely agree about the vocals, found them very off-putting on first listen but the music is simply too good to pass up!
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