Duncan Patterson – Grace Road (2022)

I have never written a review of an album I helped make before, but seeing that my contributions were minimal, I still feel able to write this without my personal bias getting in the way. In fact, my love for Duncan Patterson’s music is the bias we should be more worried about.

Duncan Patterson may be most famous for his early work with the band Anathema, but has artistically (I believe) chosen to remove himself from projects when they start to take a life of their own. Maybe he’s in constant search of artistic freedom. Maybe he just gets bored. Either way, Antimatter (which is now under the careful watch of Mick Moss) and Alternative 4 (the band named after the Anathema album he spearheaded) have put out their own masterpieces of goth meets doom meets classical meets movie soundtrack.

My contributions to this album were working with my drummer Fernando Guerrero and our friend Alicia Mitchell in recording background vocals to compliment the already amazing Enas Al Said (female vocals) as well as Duncan himself. We were given just the parts we needed to add, which seemed like self contained songs as they were. But hearing them in the context of the full tracks with all parts put together was a fascinating and rewarding experience.

The album itself is a short one. Just 5 tracks, a total of 34 minutes long. And the music is very easy going. It doesn’t demand much from the listener, but to get lost in its ethereal sound. “Absolut Absolutum” starts off by building up with a choir like sound for over a minute before abruptly cutting off. The main piano theme comes in, later joined by frail female vocals (Enas). About 5 minutes in, Duncan’s background vocals come in slowly and help introduce the drums, which carries the tune the rest of the way alongside Alicia’s voice, whose delicate touch sounds more like a violin. There are only 8 lines of lyrics, but Enas conveys them with emotion, and the song leaves plenty of space in between lines for the message to come across.

“The Quiet Light” is the longest track on the album, at 10 minutes. As opposed to the spacious classical feeling of the first track, this feels more like a ballad from the get go. The piano is the driving feature with sparse orchestral flourishes and Duncan vocals filling in the powerful performance by Enas. A flute like instrument carries the piece into its next section, which is a hypnotic but still ambient trip hop section. The dub style drums and repeated piano melody unexpectedly drop out for a haunting back and forth between voice, strings, keyboards, before Enas repeats the phrase “calling me home” over it. This builds until the ending of the track.

“Walking Between Worlds” might be my personal favorite off the record. This song has a strong Celtic influence, starting with the excellent drum beat and use of reverb on the drums and vocals. Enas loses a bit of her Middle Eastern tonal qualities as she instead channels her Sinead O’ Conner or Dolores from The Cranberries. The driving rhythm is broken up with a very moody back and forth between Enas and Alicia’s vocals, acting as the chorus. The flute comes back in the middle along with some drawn out chords and notes. It is a section that reminds me of old school Prog such as Genesis, Moody Blues, or Camel.

“The Amber Line” is the song that is most reminiscent to Duncan’s work in Anathema and Antimatter. A guitar driven track with a dark melody and a duo throughout from Duncan and Enas. I love how their vocals pair and build together throughout the piece. It has a stronger emphasis on the lyrics, as previous tracks had words that fluttered around. This one’s are precise and upfront. The layering and effects are fantastic, and the second half is a dark yet beautiful test of patience as the guitar melody repeats and the vocals come in and out of the track.

The last song is also the title track. “Grace Road” is a 5 minute instrumental that is a somber way to part with the record. Starting with just piano, the strings come in a minute later, and then choir like vocals after that. It continues to build in this way, sounding like something straight out of The Lord of the Rings, till it comes to its final note.

Each of these songs provides something special to the album, making the whole experience cohesive, relaxing, and introspective. It should be no surprise at this stage in his career that Duncan knows how to compose, but at this stage, he has found a wonderful balance between his family time to become self reliant, and release gorgeous pieces of music on his own, with the help of a few friends. It is a fantastic release, and I am proud to have contributed even a small amount to it. To listen, you can go to his bandcamp or message me (comment below) for free download codes!

Lantlos – Melting Sun (2014)

I recently revisited one of my favorite albums of all time. Usually, when I give an album that unique title, it is an album I know everything about:

An album I know every lyric, melodic, guitar more, drum beat.

But as I re-listened to this one, I realized that I was far from being that way with this one. So how had I given it that title, when in comparison to other favorites, I knew so little about it? Was I just enamored with the idea of it? Or is there true beauty to be discovered in a listen from start to finish.

---

Let’s break it down.

Lantlos is a project by Markus Seigenhort. It is most known for the involvement of Neige from Alcest on the albums .Neon and Agape. Even before those albums, Lantlos was already engrained in the blackgaze (black metal meets shoegaze) sound that we were hearing from Alcest, Les Discrets, Deafheaven, as well as others. But with Neige, those albums created an unusual mix.

Blending clean vocals, shrieks, and the closest thing to growls Neige has ever done, it combined elements of shoegaze, doom metal, black metal, and even jazz, with its gorgeous soft moments before crushingly heavy riffs and drums drowning in reverb. It was a magical match, which makes the dissolution of it all the more curious.

For the next album, Markus was inspired by Neige’s performances to handle the vocals all on his own. In probably the nicest breakup letter ever written, he thanked his friend, and told him his services would not be required for the style of music he was writing. A style of music that had more in common with Smashing Pumpkins than the doom and gloom of the previous releases.

Like Sunbather by Deafheaven, the album cover is a dead giveaway that we’re not in store for something malicious. The bright pink album cover has very little to do with metal, and it’s track listing “Melting Sun Parts I – VI” makes you think you’re holding a Prog album in your hands. Each song also relates to a color, except for the lone instrumental subtitled “Oneironaut”, which a simple Google search defined as “one with the ability to travel within a dream on a conscious basis”.

How fitting for an album that can only be described as “dreamlike”.

From to opening notes of “Part 1: Azure Chimes”, we are caught off-guard to the upcoming elation that hits us like a ton of bricks when the full band comes in. Heavy, but not dark. Intense, but still beautiful. Taking the best influence that bands like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine have to offer, it builds at a mid-tempo pace that immediately gets the listener lost.

And that’s exactly where the album wants to keep you. This is why you might not be able to remember every note. You’re not thinking about the music. You’re not analyzing it. You’re simply enjoying it, and it might feel like a long time since an album has had that effect on you.

The vocals come in just shy of 2 minutes in, with a memorable vocal melody. The lyrics are simple, but it is the relationship between the vocals and instruments that captivates you. Heavy reverb, and a mix where the vocals are almost buried but appear just enough, it is calm and soothing, something so unique when distortion is in play.

The lyrics are short, and go by quick:

“I take the azure ladder into the sun colored haze”.

It’s chorus, repeated just two times, is just two words, and still somehow infectious:

“Numb Me”.

After a second verse and a second chorus, we have an extended outro with a heavy riffs that could have been on a djent album. Yet in the context, it is not out of place. It doesn’t sound cliche. It evokes headbanging, but works after all the previous build up.

The second song, “Cherry Quartz” is the longest on the album at 9 minutes and 41 seconds. It follows a similar formula. Quiet in the beginning, full band comes in, and jam on emotional shoegaze riffs. It hints at the quiet jazzy parts found on their precious two albums. The vocals finally come in 5 and a half minutes in. It is more nostalgic than the first song. A hint of sadness, a hint of longing, and an epic outro after the third verse.

“Aquamarine Towers” almost starts with a drone element, and when the band comes in, Markus sings two lines twice:

“I’ve seen you. I’ve been through the sun”.

The rest of the song is instrumental, and continues to lull you into a false sense of security. The drums and guitar play off each other and there’s an excellent bass groove where the drums feel very free on top of it. Moments like these are sprinkled throughout the album and take multiple listens for full appreciation of the musicianship as well as the composition.

“Jade Fields” is slightly deceptive, with its full blown upfront mix after the soft intro. But the vocals return to the harmonious melodies that we saw in the first song. He sings:

“Let me go, let me go. Don’t feel sorry”.

It fades out into a short instrumental interlude, which builds into the guitar notes of the final song, providing a brief rest while also contributing to the atmosphere of the album.

“Golden Mind” ends the album on a lush and gorgeous ballad, with soft drums, spacious chords, and a great vocal performance. It sends the listener off to an almost dreamlike place, after the highs and lows they have previously encountered.

---

So is the album as good as I remember it?

The short answer, yes… yes it is.

This album is so filled with beauty. It is a delicate album that has so much power when it wants to. It is a full mix, where the soaked in reverb effect doesn’t drown it. You can still make out every note. And while the vocals are pushed too far back for some people’s tastes, I can’t complain about it.

The 6 song, 40 minute structure works to its advantage. It is compact, but it is also a unique mood. It is a one of a kind look and feel album. The artwork is so tied into it that it makes the music seem tangible, if that makes any sense.

---

I also have to point out the similarities in my mind of an album released by his former band mate Neige. In 2010 (4 years earlier), Alcest released their second album Ecailles de Lune. While look, feel, and sound wise, those albums are almost night and day of each other, it is their structure that triggers something in my mind. 6 songs long, with Ecailles de Lune being exactly 50 seconds longer (40 minutes 39 seconds against 41 minutes and 29 seconds).

As opposed to Melting Sun’s 6 part format, only two songs on Ecailles de Lune are multi-part. The first two songs on the album make up the title track. They contrast greatly, as part 1 shows the beauty of the album, and part 2 shows the dark and heavy side with screams. And even though Melting Sun has no screams, “Azure Chimes” and “Cherry Quartz” work similarly for Lantlos, showing the albums beauty before taking a more questioning approach on its second track.

“Aquamarine Towers” is kind of the odd song on the album with its two lines of lyrics, and Neige took chances with his 3rd track as well, as “Percées de lumière” is one of the heavier and more riff based Alcest songs. both albums contain a short drone like instrumental (“Oneironaut” and “Abysses”), and both albums second to last actual song are the lightest, prettiest, and most uplifting songs on the album (“Jade Fields” and “Solar Song”), though I acknowledge that those roles are reversed on each release:

And finally, both albums end on the “ballad of the album”, the lush and gorgeous compositions that best showcase each singers ability to strip down and let their vocals take the spotlight for a change.

So while it’s not the most direct comparison, and I’m not accusing anyone of plagiarism or anything like that, I still find it interesting how Markus may have learned something from his old friend Neige on how to put an album together, so that it flows well and leaves a lasting and memorable impression.

Either way, these are both incredible albums. Ones you can listen to over and over again and continue to find new appreciation in the compositions, structure, and layering.

2016 Album Review #4

HYPNO5E – Shores Of The Abstract Line

Label: Pelagic Records

Release: February 9, 2016

By: Jordan Salfity

Rating: 9.5/10

Time: 61:25

Style: Experimental/Progressive Metal

URL: Hypno5e

Review originally posted on Nocturnal Hall Magazine. Link to the original can be found here:

http://nocturnalhall.com/reviews/H/hypnose_sotal_e.html

---

HYPNO5E is a French metal band whose genre is hard to describe. It blends together a mix of Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, but even saying all that leaves out so much that happens over the course of aHYPNO5E album. They also incorporate electronic, flamenco, classical, and jazz influences, not to mention the heavy use of soundclips throughout each song. I first fell in love with the band when I saw them open for Arsonists Get All the Girls, and they absolutely stole the show. I went to their booth, bought all their albums, and anxiously anticipated a new release. With the help of a crowd funding campaign, and signing to The Ocean’s record label, that new HYPNO5E album comes four years after their second album. Shores Of The Abstract Line continues much in the vain of their previous two albums, complete with songs averaging around the 10-minute mark and multi-part suits. Where this one is different is that it is held together by themes of lines, shores, and journeys, which in turn helps this album move along like a journey. The album starts with a short instrumental before moving into In Our Deaf Lands and We Lost The Ones, two of the most punishing and unrelenting songs that HYPNO5E has written, while still retaining their beautiful moments of Spanish style guitar, sorrowful sounding soundclips, heavy use of dynamics, and interesting and unusual transitions. From there, Memories is a very melodic and repetitive track, which helps ease the mind for a bit before going to my favorite track of the album,Tio. This track is a ballad sung in Spanish, and is the closest thing HYPNO5E has to a single. It is a beautiful track before we return to the insanity of the last three tracks.HYPNO5E is an extremely underrated band that has released three of the most interesting albums in the metal genre. Hopefully this release helps push them in the forefront of metal, where they belong. Highly recommended and it’s definitely a contender for album of the year.