IN GLORIOUS TIMES

In Glorious Times is an amazing album to say the least. Be cautioned, though, that some may need to take their time with it, the album is intricate and intense, more than that of their previous releases. SGM shows no boundaries, they can be black metal (Helpless Corpses Enactment) and then turn around one second to sound shoegazing and/or post-rock (The Greenless Wreath). Not only that, but their styles change even within the songs themselves, featuring the most diverse songwriting SGM/Idiot Flesh has ever brought to the table. IGT, for me, took me at least 15 listens to really understand each and every song, and believe me, the first listens in I was a little iffy but still positive mainly because I couldn't quite grasp it all (Puppet Show and The Only Dance in particular). Everything feels a bit more complete this time around, whereas Of Natural History had a couple filler tracks and the field recordings which really didn't do anything for the album.

Some things you'll notice are more Carla, better drumming, and more "insane" moments (some of this you'll notice more once you really take the album in). First off, Carla sings a ton more, her voice is beautiful just as before. She sings lead in Formicary, Angle of Repose, The Only Dance, and Widening Eye, as well as harmonizing with Nils most of the time giving the album somewhat of an operatic feel sometimes. Not to mention, she's included more with violin in the songwriting, a lot of the time, you'll actually hear the it being the lead instrument. Also, either the drummer has recently realized he can play around with the toms or he has simply just gotten a lot better, its much more exciting to hear, it's louder, fiercer, and more technical. By "insane moments", I mean the type of parts you've come to expect in SGM, when they force their songs to explode out of nowhere and build huge walls of sound. You'll be hearing more of that. Like Of Natural History, the second song is heavy right away, straight through the song. UN(UN!)like Of Natural History, the first song goes into a frenzy as well in the last few minutes, the song starts out soft, and after small half-second pauses, the music gets louder and louder and louder, then AGGHHGHGHGHGH!!!!. I won't ruin all the surprises for you, but just know that these will become more apparent after repeated listens (believe me).

Overall, this is a great surprise, I half expected SGM to go soft for this album (just because a lot of bands do after a while), so it was a pleasure to see that I was wrong (half wrong?). This album seems more experimental, even to the extent of how Idiot Flesh was.