Minsk - With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone review
| Band: | Minsk |
| Album: | With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone |
| Style: | Post-metal |
| Release date: | May 26, 2009 |
| A review by: | Lucas |
01. Three Moons
02. The Shore Of Transcendence
03. Almilra's Premonition
04. Means To An End
05. Crescent Mirror
06. Pisgah
07. Consumed By Horizons Of Fire
08. Requiem: From Substance To Silence
Minsk are everything but an unknown band these days. Their '07 album The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment was nominated for the Metal Storm Awards of that year in the Post-Metal category, sharing the stage with behemoths like Neurosis and Jesu. A well-earned shared seventh spot was the best they could do, but well, what do you expect when you have Neurosis sucking up all the votes? This year could very well be their year of revenge.
The third full-length of the Peoria/Chicago, Illinois based band is With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone - a rather meaningless album title to these ears - a vigorous, dynamic and creative release. There's no denying the quality of each individual musician here.
I'm not going to describe each of the eight tracks in detail here. That would probably require quite a few too many words and would not be very entertaining to read. Instead, let me try to narrow it down to the basic elements that make Minsk the band they are. Chris Bennett's guitar and Tim Mead's vocals are the prime elements of this album. There are long, twirling melodic riffs as well as there is spicy dissonance, combined with warm yet desolate vocals and screams-into-the-distance. Of course they're not afraid of long and drawn-out Post-Rock-esque song structures, you know the deal: climax, release, crescendo, rippling moments - it's all there. Add a well-matched rhythmic duo that's capable of easy-going pace keeping as well as tempestuous and wild tribalistic tour-de-forces and it's game, set and match.
I feel like I've only touched the surface concerning what Minsk sounds like and consists of. It's all I want and can say about this great band though, as you really have to check this out yourself. With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone is well worth it.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
 | Written on 13.11.2009 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff. |
Comments
Comments: 13
Visited by: 165 users
| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Excellent guitars! Wow... It's a shame I can't get into the vocals; they completely turn me off. Otherwise, this band is great. Really heavy music, intense atmosphere, it really is a wall-of-sound approach, and it works. I just listened to a few tracks from their Myspace page and was pleasantly surprised. It sure is hard to describe the music though. You were more accurate at "narrowing it down to the basic elements that make Minsk the band they are" than I expected prior to hearing their sound. If their previous album was anything like this -- well shame on MetalStorm (myself included) for not acknowledging their talent, instead choosing to vote for a renowned band in Neurosis...
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15302  |
There is zero shame in voting for Neurosis. "Given To The Rising" was an awesome album, it's not like they released a subpar album (Meath Dagnetic) and ran roughshod over everyone. the Minsk album "Ritual Fires..." was certainly good and i will be sure to check this one out. the real travesty of the 2007 awards? Dark Tranquility's "Fiction" in the Gothenburg category received more votes than all the Post Metal entries - Neurosis, Jesu, Minsk, etc combined.
---- 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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| Darkside Momo Retired Elite Posts: 9096  |
2007 was just a great year for the style, as The Ocean - Precambrian was nominated too. BOT, this Minsk album is really great. Never heard the previous ones, but this release seriously kicks ass.
---- My Author's Blog (in French)  "You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you" "I've lost too many years now I'm stealing back my soul I am awake"
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18439  |
I didn't like the comment about Neurosis... Maybe it wasn't Lucas' intentions to make it sound bad but... well, it sounded bad because I agree with BitterCOld, Given To The Rising was just brilliant and had all the rights to win the poll. The category for Post-Metal had lots of good stuff in 2007, but Neurosis and Jesu know exactly how to please the people after being kings of the genre for so long. And also, I believe the votes weren't really extreme in that category Ok ok.. enough whining. About Minsk, I don't know too much stuff but it doesn't makes me jump too much from what I heard. It's good music but atm is not something that I would buy.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
It's a shame people keep on refrring to Misk as post-metal whyere in fact it is as SLUDGE as can be  But nonetheles a great album and live then band is better.
---- 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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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18439 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 14.11.2009 at 23:16 I have to admit that sometimes I don't see the line between both. Some Neurosis stuff like Times of Grace sounds kinda Sludgy to my ears. I can only figure out the genres when it's REALLY obvious that the band is Post-Metal or sludge... Could you tell me the difference I have a hard time to hear?
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Southern Wind Account deleted |
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by [user id=5080] on 15.11.2009 at 08:45 That's what I have been saying for years  I still find the most stupid term in existence together with post-rock. Like BitterCOld said somewhere: the term was probably invented by pretentious alternative music journalists to validate them liking metal
---- 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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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by BitterCOld on 14.11.2009 at 20:12 I didn't mean it to sound like Neurosis voters of 2007 should feel ashamed, just that it's a shame when such talented bands like Minsk lose out to a popularity contest. And that's...a pretty bizarre stat... One band receives more votes than an entire genre combined. Then again the Gothenburg sound is more popular and accessible, so it doesn't surprise me that more users voted for one of the genre's most significant bands.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Southern Wind Account deleted |
Southern Wind
Account deleted Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.11.2009 at 12:06 In that I agree with you (same with post-rock, btw)... I was lazy to give arguments about why I think that's a stupid term, but on the other hand Minsk represent the sound of which is meant to be called "post-metal", along with acts like Isis or Neurosis that you can define the way you want, but definately not "sludge"
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427  |
Thank you, Southern Wind, for agreeing with me. Yeah, Post-Metal is a stupid term but well, it's out there and the majority uses it. So it's silly to ignore it, in my opinion. Because Minsk do fit the description. And they're simply not Sludge.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702  |
Sludgy post-metal... lol... good album, but the singer's clean vocals are baaaaad, especially in "Means to an end"...
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15302 |
The more i listen to it, the more i like it. i love the rolling drums under the vocal/riff cacophony.
---- 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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