Old Silver Key - Tales Of Wanderings - review
Old Silver Key - Tales Of Wanderings - review
Tracklist
01. What Once Was And Will Never Happen Again02. November Nights Insomnia
03. Cold Spring
04. Nineteen Winters Far Away From Home
05. Star Catcher
06. Burnt Letters
07. About Which An Old House Dreams
A review by
KwonVerge October 15, 2011
Tales Of Wanderings is their debut album and it moves in shoegaze/post-rock soundscapes with very few moments that unfurl a near-metal vibe. And to be more precise, I mean that some passages could have been metal, but they aren't due to the lack of a heavier distortion. It's the motif that leaves such a shy impression, nothing less, nothing more. So, the big question is: do they succeed? The disappointing answer has to go like this: they could have composed a fabulous album judging from this very specific collaboration, but to my ears it feels like it didn't take much time to finish it. What I mean is, it's neither inspired nor captivating, it feels like listening to an undeniably lighter version of Handful Of Stars with one difference, the aforementioned album compared to Tales Of Wanderings feels like a masterpiece. And it's not the (absence of) metal's fault, I couldn't care less, it just feels like they were in a hurry to release it as soon as possible without taking into consideration the consequences. From the beginning it smelled like cash anyway.
It's not that bad, without implying that it's good either. It has its moments, it couldn't be that sterile. Sometimes I even receive an Anathema vibe of the A Fine Day To Exit-A Natural Disaster era. But there are also moments I get a more alternative rock oriented feeling that makes my interest fall underneath the waves ("Star Catcher" for example). The main idea is acoustic guitars, gentle and accompanying drumming, melodic or more energetic guitar chords, some interesting bass lines, few piano and/or keyboard passages and a Neige that sounds more fragile than normal, as if he got caressed by an angel and saw the world differently. Some upbeat moments break the mellow aura but they always lead to mid-tempo passages where you'd naturally expect an outbreak of bitterness. And it just doesn't feel right at all. The good thing is it's only 37 minutes but even despite its Slayer-esque duration it sounds disturbing at times; it was supposed to be dreamy. Some highlights have to be "November Nights Insomnia", "Nineteen Winters Far Away From Home", "About Which An Old House Dreams" and sparse moments here and there.
I really think Neige should take a break for a while, it would both refill his inspirational batteries and also give a bit of space for the scene to breathe. The higher the top, the harder the fall, they say.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 5 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 9 |
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I listened to this record for the very first time just a few days ago and I digged some reviews about it. Listening to it about ten year after its release, I think that the names involved created more problems than value for the record itself. It's clearly a drudkh-style album for the time (it seems two step forward to post/shoegaze from Handful of stars) and it probably was what they had to do to complete that path and free themselves from this part of their sound, as they showed with later records. They didn't use the band name though, probably remebering what happened with Songs Of Grief And Solitude. It's way better than many reviews say: if you don't have expectations due to the hype for the musicians that I read in many reviews and comments of that time, it's quite a solid release, that is still enjoyable some years later, even if it only has a few new things to say (i suppose even at the time it was released). It's well played, well written, just missing some glimpse of art or some innovation. Drums are great, though. Looking back at that time there were better records to listen to, but it's definitely on the ok side of it. more than good, but not excellent. Surely over 7, but a bit below 8, for me.
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