Review by: Danny Parsons
Right, well I guess you consider this album to be an extension of the previously released demo by the ‘Crash. Basically, they’ve taken those recordings, sped them up a bit (they’re a lot tighter now) and added a few more songs in there. Everyone always asks of bands, “who do they sound like?’ so I’ll clear that up first; the first bands that spring to mind for me are the Aussiemo band To The North and City of Caterpillar. Kinda jazzy, noodling guitars and hefty build-ups here and there. I suppose you could compare some of the heavier sections with euro bands like Daitro too.
The album opens with Turtlelephant and it’s instrumental for a good portion of it – so much so that when my friend first recommended them to me I had to ask “are there any vocals in this?.” Not to fear though, they come in eventually and boy-oh-boy, I really like them. They’re a bit low in the mix but who gives a damn? An interview I read said they were recorded in the guitarist/vocalist’s garage so frankly I couldn’t care less. They work too; they’re not so quiet you can’t hear them, but they’re not overwhelming either. And for someone who appreciates the ‘sound’ of vocals rather than what they’re trying to say, this right up my street. The songs vary in length but for the most part they’re in between four and seven minutes. The longest song, A Conduit Rather Than A Vault is just shy of nine minutes, so as you can imagine these songs have got quite a bit of variation in them. I suppose overall their songs are quite similar, but then again, this is only their first proper release since they discarded their old style so there’s plenty of time for experimentation at a later date (although if they stay working in this style I’ll be more than happy. After all, all the songs are written by the same band, so of course they’re going to sound similar! Stand-outs for me are the songs mentioned above, but you can’t really go wrong with these guys; there’s a nice instrumental track in there too, just to even things out a bit.
The vinyl packaging is real good too; a nice gatefold with all these crazy interlinking drawings of elephants, dinosaurs, faces and the solar system among other titbits. This really is an ace release and probably one of the best screamo/instrumental amalgams you’re likely to hear. Up there with the likes of Funeral Diner, City of Caterpillar and Daitro, but with their own nifty take on it. Neat.