LAURENTIAN'S ATOLL

It seems like everything this band does turns out a masterpiece! This EP is kind of a continuation of Sea of dying Dhow, with recurring themes, such as names, and music. The full version of water, the less metal version of the white umbrella (Lights in Laurentian), and a new version of Atoll. This EP shows something different though, it shows that *Shels is in fact a very metal band!

The album starts with the full version of Water, a borderline pop song, but this time with an acoustic twist at the end, then the next half of the album follows in the footsteps of Sea of Dying Dhow, with lots as mesmerizing atmospheres and soundscapes. But in the second half of City of the Swan, we're given a small taste of heaviness that wasn't in the original album. So after the new version of the white umbrella part two, comes one of the most phenomenal post meta songs of all time, Fireflystarrs. At first it starts a little off the grind from the normal atmospheric acoustic, but begins with an eerie electric guitar riff, and after a small build up, hell brakes lose. Palm muted guitars with a hardcore esque vocal performance immediately takes you off your feet, and from then on the song demands your full attention as it switches from soft to loud withing the blink of an eye. Not only does this song introduce the sheer brutality of the group, but it's followed by the song wingfortheirsmiles, which pretty much the last song on a major scale.

I feel bad for giving this band two five star reviews, for their only collections of music, but I got to hand it to them, they are by far the most exciting band in the field of the ever expanding post metal genre. And I believe they will come out with yet another astonishing album, this group is not to be overlooked.

4 stars

Laurentian´s Atoll is the follow up EP to the debut album from Shels which was released earlier in 2007 called Sea of the Dying Dhow. Personally I was very impressed with Sea of the Dying Dhow. It offered just enough accessibility for me to enjoy it more than most post rock/ metal albums.

The music on Laurentian´s Atoll is a continuation of the style which was dominant on the debut album. This means great dynamic playing which alternates between slow heavy parts and beautiful subtle acoustic parts. Most of the time the music is instrumental but there are both clean and angry ( semi-growling) vocals in the music.

Some of the songs seem a bit like unfinished sketches, but they are still enjoyable and way above standard for the genre. Most songs are excellent examples of the style Shels seem to have perfected already this early in their career. The music sometimes reminds me of Pelican, but I must admit that I enjoy Shels more. The album starts with a short intro and then Water starts. It´s the most commercial song here and I´m reminded of Emo which at first scared me a bit, but in small doses this seems to please me. The Emo influence doesn´t turn up again and the rest of the album is in Post rock/ metal style. The EP lasts for 37:31 minutes so you get a lot of value for your money. They could easily have released this as a full length album. As mentioned the songs are in similar style to the ones on Sea of the Dying Dhow and I almost suspect that the songs on Laurentian´s Atoll are high quality leftovers from the Sea of the Dying Dhow sessions.

The musicianship is great but it´s the production that´s the real winner here. Clean and sharp yet warm.

This is a very enjoyable EP and I´ll recommend this to anyone into melodic mostly instrumental Post rock/ metal. For fans of Pelican this is a must buy. 4 stars is well deserved.