A trio of European instrumentalists comprise Behind Closed Doors. Add some strings, “ferocious heaviness as well as delicate tenderness” and that’s the recipe for this album.
A mournful violin dirge is interrupted by an explosive djenty section. It’s an interesting combination. The music has to provide the expression, and here it does. “The Anti Will” slows down and there is the sound of a ticking clock. The strings department is still in evidence as the piece goes through a reflective “Damnation” like stage. The following passage has an Opeth like quality before the strings go Eastern European and the thunderous djent returns. It’s a lot but I’m not sure where it was all taking us. I’ll give it credit for drama though. By contrast the mood of “Kaleidoscopic Antlers” is darker and more sinister, having the feel of a film soundtrack. It ends in melancholic fashion, but again I didn’t know where we’d been to know what we were being melancholic about. Interesting distortions mark the start of “The Essence of Doubt”. This one has an eastern feel to it. What follows is a looping post rock structure. Finally, something happened as delicate guitar tones are enveloped in a swooping mist before the piece takes a dynamic turn and it fires up a bit. Eerie tones merge into a thumping djent sound. “Black Pyramid” mellows into a layered post-rock progression, reminding me of Canvas Solaris, and broadening out into a heavy psychedelic adventure. The mix of heaviness from the metal instruments and dark moods from the strings department on “Per Aspera ad Astra – But Why and For What” is interesting. Sirens ring and there is a dark front, developing into a sad and haunting image and back to a tense scene. Atmospherically this is Behind Closed Doors at their most creative and effective. “Ubiquitous” is a couple of minutes of mistiness, not really adding much to the overall picture. No sooner has it finished than it is swamped in the heavy power of “In All But Name”. The heaviness subsides, and in common with parts of this album, the lengthy final stage involves expansive post-rock patterns without reaching any discernible climax or conclusion.
As is often the case with instrumental acts, it’s difficult to get behind what the band is doing, and so I listen and take in the story using my own imagination. “Caged in Helices” features a great deal of movements and passages. To its credit it doesn’t go down the straight route of post rock or anything like that, and is a collection of musically diverse creations, which in themselves have life, but didn’t for me always have context.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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