Long awaited by fans, the second full-length album of melancholic low-fi death rockers Rope Sect is finally here. Estrangement brings eight new songs of generous lengths, fitted into 43 minutes, and returns to the sound of the fan-favorite first album The Great Flood (2020).
Of course, it hasn’t been a completely dry four years since the last full-length. The 2022 mini album Proskynesis somewhat shortened the wait, as did some self-released material. But an album is an album. And while Proskynesis sounded slightly different, featuring tracks from a time when the band was a one-man project and thus employed more electronics, Estrangement continues where The Great Flood left off.
Their mixture of post punk and death rock, featuring clean, unexcited vocals has by now become the band’s trademark sound and on Estrangement that sound is being further refined. Apart from the above described sonic base, it includes, here and there, soaring, meandering guitar passages, fast, exhilarating drumming and a few more aggressive, more extroverted guitar riffs. All of this serves to make their music immensely appealing. While there naturally are similar projects, there is no band around, at least not at the moment, that sounds like Rope Sect.
Secretive from the very beginning, the band have mostly allowed their music to speak for itself. Interviews have been rare, and Rope Sect have wisely avoided explaining themselves too much. Also, there are no live videos available on YouTube and only a few pictures can be found online. Nevertheless, through their visual material and their lyrics, they have succeeded in establishing the image of a death cult. A thick, serious-looking rope with a noose on one end adorns quite a few of their releases and has even caused some controversy with overexcited American journalists who think that theirs is the only right to interpretation.
This time around, the band’s chosen theme is slightly different, but not unrelated. Estrangement explores the thought of why people become estranged from each other and why individuals choose to exclude themselves from society in general and from their own circle in particular. The album cover features what looks like a page from a yearbook. All faces have been blacked out and one picture is missing entirely, its former existence evident only through the now empty space.
Like before, Rope Sect’s approachable, chilled-out sound will allow a broad spectrum of listeners to connect with it, as will the album’s theme. In a time where we look more into our devices than into the faces of the people closest to us, estrangement is a common experience. Staying actively connected and having meaningful relationships means swimming against the stream today.
The latter point is underscored by the album’s closing track. “Rope of the Mundane Love” features guest vocals by none other but King Dude and is only one of the album’s highlights. My personal favorites also include the album opener “Revel in Disguise” as well as track number four, “L’appel du vide”.
Take a break and explore the darkness. Estrangement provides an unassuming but very effective and appealing gateway.
(8.5/10 Slavica)
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