Nostalgist : "Of Loves and Days Ago"

It's hard to argue against this Seattle band. The baritone vocals like if the singer from Bellicose Minds sang for a shoegaze band. They have an incredible guitar tone and have combined an interesting array of elements, I can hear touches of every thing from Hum and Failure to the more shoe gazing side of black metal. Not that they go any where near a blast beat but they have a similar atmosphere. Being a product of the 90s I enjoy any band that can use samples as a narrative in the songs and they really contribute here. Vocals retain a similar tone on "Dreaming in Celluloid" , but chose different intervals that have more of an Agalloch feel in some ways. The guitars are masterfully layered to create sonic bliss in the bridges. The vocals harmonies are not over done and well placed when used.

 There is more tension placed on "the Derelict" and it bursts into heavier punches like some of the shoe gazey metal from the 90s, though in some ways it also brings to mind the they keyboardist from Type O Negative's other project Pist-on.  There is an almost Smashing Pumpkins like cadence to the guitar in the bridge going into the chorus. the vocals smoothly arranged in the verses and the more grunged out sections are still well blended into the bands overall sound. They actually have guitar solos."Still Frame" gives a grunge chord progression the more casual slacker swagger  and sets it to the soft to loud dynamic of  against harder indie rock. They dip closer into what bands like Nothing are doing on the more ballad like" Unbroken Take". That is not to say the ghosts of Failure are not still haunting this album as they are, but they are far from a Failure tribute band and infused their own shades of grey into this. The vocals are not an afterthought , but find melodies as centerpieces."Blast of Silence" is much more upbeat than what they have shown up on this album thus far. It retains their smoothness while taking a step toward more conventional rock. Their lyrics seems to be about the dark side of romantic entanglements. The bass player really shines through out the album, but displays his chops on the break.

As for the last song , the tom work leading into " the Void at My Feet" reminds me of "The Hanging Garden" by the Cure. It takes another turn, with the bass relaxing and wandering melodiously around the astral guitar riff that converges into the fuzzed power chords. Luckily with a little clicking I found the band's "name your price" as life currently has me too broke to pay the 8 bucks, though it would have been worth every penny and one of the few albums I would have put on my forced to buy list. It only took a couple of listens for me to give this one a 10. Good Job kids.