YELLOW

The Morningside are a Moscow-based post-metal band who've been around for a couple decades now. They created a splash at ProgArchives when their debut album---the wonderful The Wind, the Trees, and the Shadows of the Past---caught the sails of many a prog reviewer back in 2007. As the name of the album implies, their sound was a very atmospheric blend of progressive, doomy post-metal, oft described by comparison to Agalloch or Opeth, but certainly with its own twist being the environmental influence. Knowing they have released several albums since the debut, I wanted to jump back in and catch up. I opted to check out their most recent, the excellent Yellow from 2016. The album's theme sounded interesting to me: a time traveler who drifts through time on the tram shown on the album cover, based loosely on a character from Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five."

While some of their in-between music apparently departed from the first album, I find Yellow reminds me quite a bit of the first album's overall sound, minus that environmental vibe I mentioned. It's not exactly the same, mind you. I think Yellow shows more variation with some clear growth in songwriting. It feels a bit less heavy, moving closer to something like Alcest, but certainly heavier than Alcest at times. There are less extreme vocals than the debut. Now it is a mix of extreme and standard vocals. Yellow also has more acoustic guitar that provides that all-important chance to breathe that helps me when dealing with heavy music.

Epic, emotionally soaring and swooning, slowly building, the dual-guitars masterfully grab you and pull you in. So much intention in the selection of notes that are assembled into repetitive circles playing out against the rhythm guitar/drums/vocals. Really effective musical architecture, I find the constructions to be seriously pleasing in the post-rock sense. Some critical comments about the music "going nowhere" or "nothing happens" are confusing to me. This is post-metal. It's supposed to be dreamy and more open to introspection to allow you to lose yourself. It's not supposed to be "Symptom of the Universe." "Depot Only" and "Clocks," to mention a couple of individual songs, are positively cinematic with their acoustic moodscapes that allow the listener to imprint their own life and thoughts against the music. Powerful, almost regenerative.

Another thing I love here is the sound aura they have throughout. I'm no expert on guitar effects, and so I don't know what to call it: reverb, echo, sustain? I don't know what that aura is, but it is truly an intoxicating effect for the listener, creating another factor, another catalyst for going on the thematic journeys that the Morningside like to take. I apologize as always for reviewing metal subgenres I know little about. It's probably frustrating for metal fans to read newb-spiel like this. But I can't help it. I love throwing myself into bands like Morningside who so successfully mold more challenging metal into albums that are accessible to outsiders. Any prog rock fan could dig Yellow on various levels. You don't have to be a card-carrying metal fan. If you enjoyed that first album many moons ago, you would be wise to check out the further releases from the melancholic metal lords of Moscow. Bravo, gents of Morningside, from an American fan.