Maudlin of the Well United States
"Having listened to all maudlin of the Well/Kayo Dot related albums, this was the only last one I heard. What I heard about the album wasn't fascinating at all: it was said to be a raw, badly written and producted release by an unexperienced group. I, however, didn't mind all the negative responses and got this album to hear what the music was like when it all started. Now, the first listen didn't seem quite promising: some parts seemed badly crafted, some too poppy, others just plain boring and unremarkable. It seemed right for me to blast Bath or Leaving Your Body Map instead at the time, which, frankly speaking, are easier to listen to and "get", yet still very deep. It wasn't until one day when I was in the mood for giving this album another listener and, fortunately, that time I "got" it and since then I listen to it just as much as its successors.
The sound of the recording is indeed raw(not in the "grim" Black Metal way though, don't worry), however, you can hear every instrument just right and the atmosphere doesn't seem to suffer from it at all, and the bad production rather makes its more gloomy, mysterious and, at other times, beautiful. The album kicks in with Ferocious Weights (by the way, it's W eights, not H eights, as listed in the site's database) , which is an especially atmospheric song with both beautiful female vocals, Toby Driver's clean singing, which surprisingly doesn't sound all that much worse if compared to latest efforts, nicely composed guitar parts in accompaniment with trumpets. The song can be called both doomy and gothic, without being any extreme, unlike a few other tracks on the album. There is a part that really remins me of King Crimson 's more heavy complex stuff, which is never a bad thing. A ballsy guitar solo seems out of place at first, but I have got used to it ever since I understood that that's exactly the point to shift moods so often unpredictably. After all, after additional listens the solo seems kinda explained as far as the mood of the song goes, which, once again, proves the group's classification of being an Astral Metal group that uses signs from above to compose their music. The clean, quiet part in the end after the wicked solo is astonishing. The next track is A Conception Pathetic - the first track on the album where the more extreme of the group is shown. It begins with an infected growl of the singer named Byron(not to be confused with any other Byrons)and a marvellous tech-metal part. It then leads into another quiet part, this time even more memorable, quite possible my favourite here, for it touches me appropriatly. The heavy parts would be more precisely described as Progressive Doomy Post-Rock rather than Tech-Metal though. Undine and Underwater Flowers is the next song and is also the easiest one to listen, being gentle, nice and even weak. The first 4 minutes can be found a bit repetitive and poppy, but they give me the chills. The second half of the song is an instrumental section which wonders in the jazzy post-rockish field before going into the longest track on the album - The Ocean, The Kingdom, and the Temptation . This is one does not hurry anywhere and sets probably the most magnificent vibe out of all the tracks on the album. One of the parts of this epic sounds like it escaped from one of My Dying Bride 's early records, such as As The Flower Withers and even earlier material of the British doomsters. Overall, this is one of the songs responsible for my position on calling this a Heavy Post-Rock record. Seriously, this is close to the type of music Pelican and Isis would be making a few years later. Pondering a Wall - the next track - has once again a remarkable atmosphere to it. I guess, if you've already heard Leaving Your Body Map , then you could say this is the album's Gleam In Ranks , starting eerie and leading into a noisy section. The last half of the song sounds a bit bizarre with Maria-Stella's unique singing. Toby does an unusual vocal performance as well. Catharsis of Sea Sleep and Dreaming Shines (it's Shines not Sh r ines)is my favourite song on the album and I can't help but go into comparisons again. The beginning sounds like something that would fit really well on Dan Swano's Moontower , which if my memory serves me correctly, was released the same year - "cookie monster" vocals meet a pretty melody. There is another MDB-ish part, which shows the impact they had on avant- garde metallers of the 90's(come on, why isn't My Dying Bride listed in this archive?). Blight of River Systems closes the album and it is my least favourite song on the record. The singing is too poppy for my tastes, the music is composed worse compared to the previous tracks, despite the great rhythm section. However, the two-minute guitar solo in the end literally saves the album from ending shamelessly. To me the album is, although not perfect, but close to perfection this song being the main fault. There is supposedly an 8th track on the CD, which has just whispering and giggling, so if you haven't got that one, don't worry as you're not missing much.
The inevitable conclusion, therefore, is that this is an excellent debut for the group that still had a lot to compose and will hopefully keep releasing amazing albums under the new name. This is not the best place to be introduced to the group's music. For beginners I suggest Bath for all listeners and Leaving Your Body Map for fans of more extreme music. However, no matter how much you enjoy either of the two, do not make the same mistake I did - do not underestimate this release. This could also be one of the first Post-Metal records to be releases ane the sound is surely unique. Moreover, I also have a feeling fans of Devin Townsend's Terria and Ocean Machine will absolutely love this album. Not an absolute masterpiece, but an excellent addition to any prog collection nonetheless, despite the inaccessibility."
