Cult of Luna – The Long Road North (2022)

Cult of Luna by the time of this release had already established themselves as one of the “big three” of Post Metal alongside legendary bands Isis and Neurosis. They are known for their consistency and forward thinking approach. For me, they had already been a part of two of my favorite albums of all time, with Vertikal and Mariner (alongside American vocalist Julie Christmas). But their previous albums were no slouch either.

Following those two albums couldn’t have been easy, and I may have been tough on reviewing the follow up, 2019’s A Dawn to Fear and the companion EP, 2021’s The Raging River, which both did grow on me with repeated listens. But sometimes the biggest problem with ambient types of music is that it can get lost in the ambience, and forget about the song at its core. This is not the case with the shorter songs with clean vocals the band has every release for some time now, but some of the longer songs that have great riffs, but ultimately sound very similar.

Following quickly after those two releases, I hoped that this one would have a little more diversity, and while that’s not exactly what I found, I did connect with it a bit faster than with the previous two releases.

First and foremost, the album name, track listing, and album art are quintessential Cult of Luna atmosphere, so much so that you can’t believe it already hadn’t happened. For a band who has traveled musically and lyrically through countryside, cities, and even space, a journey through snow and barren lands is the perfect setting for their cold, dark, moody feel.

“Cold Burn” opens the album much like “The Silent Man” did for A Dawn to Fear and “Three Bridges” for The Raging River. It’s a driving song with brief melodic moments. But what they brilliantly do here is lull you into a false sense of security. When “The Silver Arc” comes in right after with a similar sense of urgency, you think it’s gonna be more of the same. But when it’s beautiful droning middle section complete with a bright bass tone you would hear on a record by The Cure or Tool appears, it hypnotizes you.

“Beyond I” the first surprise of the album comes at the perfect time. I shouldn’t say surprise since soft songs on their album are becoming expected, as well as guest vocalists, but they are what I look forward to since they provide so much needed contrast. Mariam Wallentin’s voice is haunting on this keyboard driven track with no drums. It reminds me of AA Williams, especially on her split with Mono. The band intelligently follow this up with the slow building “An Offering to the Wind”. With the tension and atmosphere of a Western film, the flow of the album starts to take shape, with its peaks and valleys mimicking the very landscape it describes.

After it’s epic climax, the album brings itself down again with the ballad “Into the Night”. Whereas “Beyond I” was more electronic and industrial driven, this one continues the country and western feel the band started on the previous track. It starts slow and brooding, building half way in to a full band ballad, with very unusual chord progressions. It reminds me of Radiohead almost, due to a mellotron keyboard tone, and a crooning vocal style. It is a different style for the band. Very ambient, and it shows their continued confidence in the variety of clean vocals. And while the sporadic appearances on these track listings don’t signify a complete change, this middle dip of forward thinking songs bookended by the heavier, driving tracks is what gives this album its wonderful and consistent flow.

Continuing with this thought process, the band does not just randomly pick it back up with immediate heaviness and urgency. They slowly build it up once more time with the short instrumental “Full Moon”, a beautiful blend of the country and western feel of the last two songs, with the electronic/industrial keyboard heavy tones of “Beyond I” all mixed together. The subtle changes of tone yet constant flashbacks to past themes gives this album cohesion, and flows perfect into “The Long Road Home”, which starts with some incredible slide guitar work.

Eventually the title track brings that intensity felt on the first two songs. The band really take their time on this album, in the best possible way. The title track is filled with fantastic dynamics and the production really shines on this one as you hear layering that simultaneously make you think of the cityscapes of Vertikal, the space of Mariner, and the countryside of Somewhere Along the Highway. Aside from obvious post metal references, bands and projects like Agalloch, NIN, Author and Punisher also come to mind.

“Blood Upon the Stone” the last real song and second longest song, acts as an epic closer, and doesn’t take as long as “An Offering to the Wild” to get going. Using the momentum from the previous track, it gets right into it. The extended middle section with delayed guitars, consistent drumming and subtle keyboard tones turns into an explosion of dissonant and post rock goodness. The vocals return over a repeated melody a builds to an incredible climax worthy of finishing off this group of songs. But Cult of Luna don’t leave you hanging.

The album officially closes with “Beyond II”, which is an ambient piece of drone, classical, and industrial, all mixed together. It was created alongside Colin Stetson who also helped provide soundscapes on “An Offering to the Wild”. Normally I’m not the biggest fan of instrumental ambient noise closing out an album. But after such a massive track and complete journey, I can see the need for it here. It eventually fades out, and leaves you ready to re-experience it all.

It’s always hard for a band to live up to a fan favorite. And while Cult of Luna might be in the fortunate position to not have one distinct one, they have certainly created a mountain for themselves to climb over on each new release. But the band gives off the impression that they don’t care… in the sense that they have nothing to prove, and aren’t making albums for anyone in particular. They do what they want to. Some aspects of that are new, some are what they do best. But they’re not going to completely change over night for new fans, nor are they going to stay the same for the old ones. And each new release has something new to give, but it will always sound like Cult of Luna. It’s up to you how much you want to invest in finding the differences. But don’t expect to write it off entirely as just another new album by them.

Kowloon Walled City – Piecework (2021)

Kowloon Walled City blew me away when I saw them two nights in a row. Once at a small dive bar in Long Beach. The next in front of about 1,000 people opening for Neurosis. In both shows, their demeanor was almost identical. They are a very unassuming band. But this simplicity is also part of their brilliance. I wrote a review of their previous release Grievances. And when it came time to write a new review for one of their albums, I was shocked that it had been 6 years. A very quiet six years, with scattered shows.

This silence was in part to an uncertainty of the band’s future, which tends to happen when your main songwriter has writer’s block. And with the release coming when it did, it is possible to assume that the pandemic/lockdown could have played the role of the muse, like it did for so many others. If that is the case, I wouldn’t know. Because unlike many bands who came back flashy, swinging, inspired to try a new sound…. Kowloon came back exactly as before.

This new release contains 7 songs that could have been on either of their previous two albums. No clean vocals added, or female vocals…. No crazy times or song structures….no blatant song lyrics calling out specific people or events. It was as if everything we had been through in life had never happened. Just like it didn’t matter to them whether they played in front of 10 people or 1,000. They give you their sound. And that’s not such a bad thing.

In my previous review I explained what makes their sound so unique. Punk sensibility with a sludge/doom/post metal (whatever you want to call it) sound. No crazy light shows or song lengths. No endless tunnels of reverb and delay. And yet, despite their simple arrangements (2 guitars and bass playing slightly different things at the same time, they way Slint did on Spiderland), it is there unique use of space between notes that creates the atmosphere. Even though all the instruments are dry, you still feel like you could be falling as you wait for the next hit.

The title tracks opens by trudging along, as if the chugging were to mimic the lyrics of just passing through life (I don’t have the lyrics written down anywhere so my interpretations could be flawed). Though after a minute, it quickly rushes you to your first bit of soft guitars, a dynamic that despite how often it gets used, never overstays its welcome. Dynamics are after all what this band is all about. That if anything, is their only flex.

“Utopia” is a darker tune with its incredible bass tone, apocalyptic/lost in the wilderness like lyrics, and use of occasional feedback. After a brief soft section, it hits with an epic ending. “Oxygen Tank” on the other hand takes its time to build up, showing off the wonderful DIY production. Punchy drums, upfront bass, just enough room to breathe on the guitars so they don’t muddle the mix, and vocals that always feel on the brink of distorting right out of the speaker. The build up payoffs off with the closest the band has gotten to a normal chorus (“you never wanted to escape!”). Definitely a highlight.

“You Had a Plan” is the closest the band has come to a ballad. Heavy guitars don’t come in until around the 3:30 mark, the music takes over from there, and then the vocals throw in some powerful lines at the end. The song shows the band’s restraint while never conforming to singing when it gets soft.

“Splicing” might be my favorite from the album with its simple but effective bass lines, lyrics, and melodic (while still slightly dissonant) guitar lines. It has a standout lyric “through the haze, like a pulse, you sang”, a build up in an odd time signature, and an abrupt ending.

“When We Fall Through the Floor” musically might feel like more of the same by this point, but it makes up for it with so many memorable lyrics, so you can’t help but headbang as Scott yells, “What’s hidden in the floor?!”

“Lampblack” is a great closer, starting off with the lyric “One last thought” before closing with the line “You want to feel like you’re going home”. There is very little fluctuation in this song and is probably the most jam-like song they’ve done. Aside from the soft breaks, it stays on its main riff before the song ends and fades away.

Like their stage presence, very little attention is forced towards the album. It comes, it goes, and doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. In fact, after 6 years, a 32 minute album is kind of surprising. Most bands would feel obligated to switch things up, so something big, surprise their fans.

But Kowloon Walled City is perfectly happy to do what they’ve been doing. And their fans are perfectly happy to hear more of that. It was almost underwhelming upon first listen, but I should have seen that it’s not about what’s expected. And upon my third listen, I knew it was exactly what it was needed to be. Great lyrics. Great music. And a band that sounds like no other. Why then, would you want them to conform to the trends? Doesn’t matter anyway.

They won’t.

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(All pictures curtesy of the band’s social media pages, and websites selling their merch. If you like the album, support the band by purchasing a physical copy of it!)

Katatonia – City Burials (2020)

Taking a break from the vinyl reviews to focus on something relatively recent (in actuality, it’s been around for 6 months since the time of this review), and that is the latest release by Katatonia.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love this band. I wear their sweatshirt almost every night. And when the band announced a hiatus, I wouldn’t say that I was devastated, but I would say that I was constantly praying for it to be a short term one, and not a Porcupine Tree one where they never come back (or at least not for any time soon).

Luckily, my prayers were answered, and a new album was announced to be released just four years after their last (which taking consideration that they completely toured their last album really isn’t that long at all). Also, it was slated for a time when we needed new music the most; the early stages of Coronavirus Pandemic. Just over a month after the American lockdown, we had the album.

Katatonia’s discography is a solid one, and a unique one. To look at albums with large gaps of time might not make sense, but to see the slow transitions between every album gives you a crystal clear flow chart of how this band has traversed the waters from doom metal to goth rock to alternative rock to progressive metal, while including elements of electronic music.

This album is no different. It is the next logical step from their previous one, The Fall of Hearts. Their focus still includes some of the doom and gloom, but has also interesting balanced some classic rock with the occasional bluesy guitar riff and soulful vocal delivery, melodic death metal with uptempo riffs and guitar shredding, and even Tool-like syncopation and odd time signatures.

Despite the lineup changes, the drumming is in top form, something I thought would suffer greatly with the departure of Daniel Liljekvist in 2014. Roger Öjersson has already proved himself with 3 incredible guitar solos on their previous album and continues his flashy but tasteful style here.

So with such a great lineup, does that mean the band is making their best music yet?

Well…. no.

The album starts off very strong. “Heart Set to Divide” is a monster opener, much like “Takeover” was before it (come to think about it, they’ve always had a gift for starting albums!). It starts off moody before progressively transitioning through multiple sections, with little hooks here and there, but it really does its just for setting the stage for “Behind the Blood”. This song showcases the band’s love for classic heavy metal with moments reminiscent of a Judas Priest and Megadeth. Great solos, great riffs, one of the best on the album.

The band then bring it down with the album’s first single “Lacquer”, a simple electronic ballad that never really picks up, but is definitely no slouch. Another catchy chorus it’s off to “Rein”, which showcases the kind of songs you’ll hear more of on the second half. Kind of proggy, dark memorable chorus, and a big finish showcasing Daniel Moilanen’s drumming ability.

“The Winter of Our Passing” is another upbeat and straightforward, but slightly industrial song, that comes and goes very quickly. It’s syncopated/off time hits give the illusion of being more complex than it really is, but it’s still one of the most danceable songs the band has ever written. And “Vanishes” is a beautiful electronic influenced ballad with female vocals that give it a very trip-hop vibe, and is one of my favorite songs off the album.

This is where the album starts to lose me. “City Glaciers” and “Flicker” feel like they focus more on the Tool-like rhythms rather than any sense of melody or harmony. There are interesting moments, but nothing that would make me want to hear them live, especially when compared to anything on the first half. This is followed by a 2 minute ballad which provides a break but really doesn’t provide anything memorable other than that. “Neon Epitaph” is provably the catchiest song on the second part of the album, but it’s an instance of too little too late, and “Untrodden” is decent enough but not really a memorable closer to end on.

And is you got the deluxe edition like I did, then”Closing of the Sky” isn’t gonna be a groundbreaking bonus track. A nice enough song, but could have easily replaced any of these last songs and the album still would have had the same result. The interesting bonus track is a cover of “Fighters” by Enter the Hunt (featuring the band’s good friend Krister Linder), which obviously doesn’t sound like a Katatonia song, but the band does it justice enough with their rocking adaptation.

This is the second Katatonia album in a row that has taken me a while to appreciate every song on the album, which was never a problem with their older albums. Either this means that the band is writing more and more challenging music and I need to open up my mind a bit more and appreciate the differences, or the band is so focused on long albums that they’re starting to forget the winning formula that made them important in the first place.

Honestly, it’s probably the first option. Having 6 great songs on an album is still a feat in of itself, and if the band continues to experiment and try new avenues, who am I to complain? I’d much rather have new Katatonia over no Katatonia any day, and if they need me to listen to the albums more times to enjoy every song, then I’m up to the challenge. But on the other hand, I can see why a lot of fans might not have that same mindset, and might be calling for more albums like their older stuff.

Either way, if COVID continues to last longer than we expected, it might be nice to have another different release from the band to help pass more time!

2016 Album Review #13

Kowloon Walled City – Grievances (Gilead Media)

  Kowloon Walled City is a band from San Francisco, California. They were formed in 2007. Their music is a blend of sludge metal, doom metal, post-rock, post-metal, and punk. It reminds me of bands like Cult of Luna and Neurosis in terms of the heaviness combined with beautiful atmosphere, however the vocals take a monotonous yelling approach. Their style is also reminiscent to Slint’s classic album Spiderland, but to write them off as just a clone would be a terrible disservice to the band. In 2015, they released Grievances, their follow up album to their critically successful Container Ships album from 2012. Grievances is the band’s 3^rd album overall, and fifth release overall. Musically, it continues from the style that the band started on Container Ships. The production is clean and solid. The music is more slowed down, sludgy, and spacious then their early material. Lyrically and musically, the band is influenced by the idea of technology, industry, relationships between power and employment, and the power employers have over us. Musically, the band takes a simple approach. No crazy guitar or vocal effects, just good old-fashioned rock and roll. In fact, the music itself sounds very dry, and it is quite impressive how spacious it actually sounds. As a whole, this album is very hypnotic, and very easy to listen through and get lost in. With a length of 37 minutes, it lasts exactly how long it should. It’s not too long, and not too short. Just the perfect amount punk, metal, sludge, and ambience, no matter what time of day it is. The riffs are heavy, the chord progressions are beautiful, and the vocals provide a perfect balance between power and fragility, which is a very hard thing for vocalists to accomplish. Overall, I can not praise this band enough, and they have released yet another amazing album in their already impressive collection.

– Jordan Salfity

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kowloonwalledcity/

Website: http://inthewalledcity.com/

Bandcamp: https://kowloonwalledcity.bandcamp.com/