We face a musical crisis in this world, and that crisis is atmospheric music, whether it be the ambient works of Brian Eno or the Post-Rock mastery of Godspeed You! Black Emperor it’s something which is a massive part of music as a whole. It translates well into Metal too, just look at Thy Light or Agalloch, fantastic stuff. Has it become boring though? I feel sometimes like anyone can slap an acoustic guitar in and suddenly its ‘thought provoking’. The reality is it’s not just about how it sounds, it’s about the feeling too, for example the themes of The Caretaker or Monolithic Torment can sometimes be too much for me. Basically, I’ve been sleeping to music recently and these are some thoughts that have crossed my mind.
So let’s look to Eight Bells then, dubbed Portland Metal ‘Experimentalists’ they are a trio who play with a lot of atmospheric themes and tones. Having formed in 2010 they have released three full length records including the one we’re going to talk about today. That album is Legacy Of Ruin, it promises a lot when in the press information the influences are listed as Magma, Rush, Death, Yob and much more, surely this band can’t live up to all that, can they?
The album has a bit of an epic intro with atmospheric soundscapes and beautiful vocal harmonies, normally I would be like this is so time wasting and pointless but the sheer weight of Eight Bells music actually demands such prowess. Although the progression of Destroyer into more metallic riffs is relatively quick, if anything I could actually stand for the intro to have been a bit longer. None the less, expect Doom, Post-Rock and ‘Experimental’ (more of that later) influence. In many ways the band’s sound reminds me a little of Devin Townsend, specifically the Epicloud album, which is no bad thing. The Well, being the longest song on the album has a much nicer Prog element to it, it weaves peacefully throughout the song keeping a Metal edge whilst being delicate and vast in sound. Bringing a little bit more of a Tool inspired sound is Torpid Dreamer, a shorter sound that plays more with crushing Doom than anything else, basically it’s almost an interlude when compared to other tracks, but again an album like this really warrants such a concept.
The second half of the album opens with Bells Of Nadir which is a bit more placid, and personally I prefer this side to Eight Bells, the more ‘extreme’ parts of this band can sound a little tired and expected whereas the more Post-Rock/ Metal influence is far better suited and has heaps more emotion. Especially so when combined with the incredible clean vocal performances from the band. On this note The Crone is another eclectic range of Post elements, it all sounds and feels very modern which can be quite impactful at times but also has its detriments, this song in particular brings in harsher vocals and it works pretty well. Again, it is quite generic in the more ‘extreme’ moments but it’s still a nice touch. The album closes with Premonition which is a perfect follow up to The Crone bringing in more of those harsh portions, overall it rounds things off nicely.
So all in all how would I describe Legacy Of Ruin. Well, it’s like this, first off it sounds fantastic. It has huge degrees of emotion, atmosphere and depth but it lacks innovation. In reality it basically sounds like any other generic kind of Post influenced record of the last ten years. I used the term Experimental earlier in the review and I often find this tag laughable, what does it even mean? Experimental should mean ‘here’s a guy putting spoons all over his body, hooking them to contact mics and rolling on the floor’ instead it has become a vapid term for an odd time signature. Rant over, this album is by no means bad but it really isn’t any different to any other ‘Experimental’ Metal record.
(7/10 George Caley)
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