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.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F# A# ∞

Godspeed You! Black Emperor might be one of my favorite bands to talk about. The name alone comes from a 1976 documentary about Japanese motorcyclists. Starting as a trio and playing occasional live shows, it grew to a collective of musicians who came and went as they pleased before settling in a 9 person lineup.

Despite a lack of lyrics, their albums (due to song and album titles, use of field recordings, and artwork and notes in the packaging) give off a very strong political message. It’s like a puzzle left up to the listener/viewer to decide. Their live shows use film loop projections to accentuate the music, and they are taper-friendly, allowing bootleg copies of all their shows.

This has given the band a cult following, as well as some brief moments of mainstream recognition. For instance, their song “East Hastings” made an appearance in the horror movie 28 Days Later, and director Danny Boyle said their music had an effect on the writing itself. They were also briefly mentioned as a joke by Seth Rogan in the movie Pineapple Express, as he made fun of his high school girlfriend for going to college during their “break-up” phone call.

After a limited release (33 cassettes) demo in 1994, the band began writing for their debut. Containing material from as early as 1993, this 1997 release was just two long (20 and 17 minute) songs. It caught the attention of Chicago independent record label Kranky, who offered the band to re-release it on CD. The band returned to the studio, added new material, reorganized the album, and it was eventually released on CD in 1998.

Now because of this, there are two different versions that exist in the world, the CD and the vinyl. I have listened to the CD version for many years, but thanks to a birthday present from my buddy Jimmy, I now own the vinyl version as well. We are going to do a side by side comparison of the two.

What the vinyl lacks for in length, it brings more to the experience with its little bag of goodies. There are three different vinyl covers in existence verses the one CD cover. The vinyl also contains a silk screen picture of a train, an old handbill of an early Godspeed show, a page with linear notes and album credits, an image of a hand-drawn image by guitarist Efrim Menuck, and a crushed penny, presumably by a train.

The vinyl contains no individual track names. The names of each side are etched into the dead wax. Side one is called “Nervous, Sad, Poor…”, and side two is called “Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful…”.The CD contains track information for both the CD and the vinyl, the hand-drawn picture, as well as other pictures and linear notes. The CD’s album cover is a darker and enlarged version of the road sign vinyl cover. The three sections that are found on the CD are called “The Dead Flag Blues”, “East Hastings” and “Providence”, respectively.

Focusing solely on the music, the two versions start the same. What’s known on the cd as “The Dead Flag Blues (Intro)” begins with drone, and a voice setting the stage with its apocalyptic like poetry. This is followed by country inspired guitars. You hear one with twang, some with slide, and some tremolo picking that’s associated with post-rock. You also hear the wonderful use of violin. The voice briefly returns and you hear train sounds. This leads to the strange sounds of “Slow Moving Trains” and eventually the beauty of “The Cowboy”.

This leads us to our first major difference. While the cd would go straight into “The Dead Flag Blues Outro”, a short happy sounding segment, the vinyl goes into a segment called “Drugs in Tokyo” which is dark reverberated sounds. The vinyl then goes into “The Dead Flag Blues Outro” and then an untitled section not on the CD of just random vocals and banjos.

Looking at this difference, I prefer the CD version. The transition from “The Cowboy” and the “Outro” closing this piece feels more natural to me. The inclusion of “Drugs in Tokyo” here, then the “Outro” then the “Untitled” track feels more unsure, and uncertain, and not in a good way. Almost like the band didn’t know how to fill time.

Now we turn to side 2 on the vinyl, and the second of three segments on the CD. They both begin with ““…Nothing’s Alrite in Our Life…”/The Dead Flag Blues Reprise”. This contains bagpipes and someone yelling indistinctly as cars and people pass by. They both lead into “The Sad Mafiosa” the iconic section. However, there are some major differences on both versions.

The CD version is almost twice as long. It builds and builds to a heavy and climatic ending. The vinyl version introduces the ideas, and then softly and slowly drifts away. Again, the CD version feels like what the vinyl wants to be. Like the vinyl had good ideas, but didn’t know how to execute them properly. If it wasn’t for the CD version, the song definitely would not have had the same impact in 28 Days Later, or in live shows. And I wouldn’t consider it one of the greatest post-rock songs of all time (like I do with the CD version).

Still it’s an interesting take. It’s softer, airier. Doesn’t contain the wordless vocals, and the background effects are more present, unlike the CD which puts a lot of emphasis on the one guitar at the beginning. It’s great to hear it both ways, but definitely left me wanting more. The vinyl goes on to a haunting section called “Kicking Horse on Brokenhill” which brings with ghostly vocals before going into a big climatic section. This is definitely what the vinyl version has been missing so far since pieces like “The Cowboy” and “The Sad Mafiosa” have softly drifted away. This really ties the vinyl version together.

The vinyl continues with “String Loop Manufactured During Downpour”, which is self explanatory. Utilizing guitar sounds, rain sounds, and the return of the ghostly vocals repeating “where are you going?”, it eventually makes its way to a funeral procession-like section, with tape warbles, crackles, pops, and drone. It ends with a built in locked groove, that as the name of the album suggests, plays F# and A# forever.

On the contrary, after the 10 minute CD version of “The Sad Mafiosa” we get the “Drugs in Tokyo” section that came after “The Cowboy” on the vinyl. There’s also an addition spoken section (radio transmission) not found on the vinyl, as well as a dark drone section called “Black Helicopter” also not found on the vinyl. But it all works after that incredible band performance on the extended version of “The Sad Mafiosa”.

The CD’s 3rd section starts off with two pieces that are not found on the vinyl version. “Divorce and Fever” is a field recording of someone (who makes a later appearance on their next release) being asked about the end of the world while on a street corner, before going into the hauntingly beautiful “Dead Metheny”. It’s definitely sad that there is corresponding section of this on the vinyl. It builds up with great drum work and Spanish style trumpet leading the way, as well as emotional guitar work with just the right amount of delay.

8 minutes later it stops, but getting the “Kicking Horse on Brokenhill” right after it is a welcome double whammy. And like the vinyl, it goes straight into the “String Loop Manufactured During Downpour” section to close it all out. The CD obviously does not have the locked groove so this piece ends after about 4 and a half minutes. The CD version then has 3 and a half minutes of silence before a hidden track obviously not on the vinyl. “J. L. H. Outro” is 4 minutes is another looped section (piano this time) before a one final climatic section brings it all to a close with crashes and feedback.

Before the vinyl’s locked groove, it clocks in at about 38 minutes, while the CD’s total runtime is well over 63 minutes. Obviously, because of this the CD is the definitive version of you want to hear all that this era of the band has to offer. More material, more post rock climaxes, and smoother transitions. The only thing you’re missing out on is the short “untitled” section that closes the first half, which isn’t essential anyway, and the locked groove experience at the end. That being said, for any fan of the band, it is a fun experience to see the development of these songs as well as hearing sections in different places.

And for any fan of collecting vinyl, who can pass up on that kind of packaging?