I gained a new appreciation for this band since the darker turn their past few albums have taken. This is supposed to be a double album, but I am reviewing them separately since they have different titles. This one starts off with a sample from what sounds to be a "Sounds of Halloween" album. From there they sprawl out from a creeping post-rock, into a more grandiose throb. Not as dark as what I expected after the last album but it works. This sprawls out for 11 minutes. I only paid attention to the time around the 8-minute mark, so perhaps it's three minutes of excess. Production of the album sounds great and the guitar tones ring out with the perfect amount of reverb. There is a more rock n roll feel to "You Put the Devil In Me" which has a more soaring southern rock feel.
"444" is the first song dark enough to lean toward being called goth, it feels like something Wovebhand might do. Justin Storms from the band Wailin Storms lends his voice which aims it in this direction. Then the shadows creep into the atmosphere of "Goodnight Europe". Belinda Kordic's voice is stellar on this one. So up to this point, we are at a 50/50 split as to songs dark enough to consider this album goth. The ambient interlude that follows this does not change this fact . However the more pastoral folk of "Song for the Unloved" carries a more Swans-like vibe, thanks to Ryan from Fotocrime coming in to drop vocals. This does build into a more Pink Floyd-like sound. There is a palm-muted riff that feels like it's going into "Another Brick in the Wall". The song is a 14-minute epic so who knows where it's going to end up. The saxophone solo over the more "Have a Cigar" groove is a pretty nice, touch and aside from the one riff, they do not become a Pink Floy Tribute band.
"Whissendine" continues to float down a more Pink Floyd-like place with a darker grandiose theatric feel to the song's progression. They have always been a progressive band this time it's just coming from a place that is more like "the Wall'". They close the album by taking it in a more post-rock direction for the "Blizzard of Horned Cats". I have not given the second album a listen yet, but this album has some goth adjacent songs, three of them to be exact it feels more proggy in scope and is not as dark, not giving me a reason to hold back this review for Gothtober. however, it is still excellent and better than most prog bands you are going to hear this year so I will give it a 9.5. It drops November 4th, on Season of Mist.
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