BATH

A masterpiece of progressive rock certainly is NOT an applicable term to use for this album. Sure it is full of some great tunes but it is a conceptual nightmare which is a big problem for this album. The majority of people who listen to this interesting album are probably only likely to be able to enjoy half of this album. This is an album crafted out of two extremes, mellow, acoustic space rock with gentle vocals, and extreme heavy metal. Now this may remind you of Opeth but Maudlin do it in a way that does not sound balanced and organised. For instance, the first track is a brilliant 7 minute intro of acoustic guitars and spacey textures. This then randomly veers of course into a speedy, heavy track with growling vocals. And the album is always quirky like that. This is a statement of avant garde, but that's not a complete excuse for this unpredicatable nightmare.

So for those metal fans who don't like space rock or acoustic work, they will only find about half of this album any good. And for those fans who love their acoustic and space rock, but detest extreme metal, their listening experience is likely to be ruined by the unessecary heavy parts of this album.

An album made of two musical extreme's like this makes it hard to categorise this band. Space metal is as accurate as you can get. These two opposite mellow and aggressive influences are not at all parallel with each other on this album and it makes for difficult listening. It has also pushed Maudlin of the Well into obscurity and could perhaps be a reason for them splitting up.

Each individual piece is very good, you get space rock ("The Blue Ghost"), symphonic prog ("The Ferryman"), acoustic songs, (most of "Heaven and a Weak") and extreme metal tunes ("They Aren't All Beautiful"), yet I happen to like all these different types of music, still I admit that having all these different subgenres do not go well with each other. Maudlin of the Well have alienated themselves from both space prog and extreme heavy metal.

Overally, "Bath" displays some good indvidual pieces, but as an album, it's concept is tackily put together and has a high chance of putting people off with its opposing forces of music.

Approach with much caution!

Wow, what to say about this great album? Well, it's certainly not for the casual listener. MotW combine such a wide array of diverse musical styles from folk, symphonic and acoustic rock to extreme death and black metal that it makes their records a challenging listen to say the least. A first time listener, even one well versed in avant garde music will likely think 'What is this? What is going on here?' At times the music seems to jump around unexpectedly and without logic or reason. A song might be coasting along in a pleasant ambient fashion, then suddenly break out into dissonant, aharmonic thrash metal. A third or fourth-time listener of this album will likely come to appreciate this album's avant garde charm and eventually its immense beauty.

The first track starts out with some soft guitar harmonies echoing gently, and slowly other instruments and soft vocals begin to enter the song. It progresses much like a post-rock song that builds and dies away, then explodes again. The second track proves it's title "They Aren't all Beautiful" as it jumps immediately into thrashy death metal. This song, while grating on the ears at first, progresses into a true work of art as the song breaks down, and the vocalist's tortured screams echo in the background, the song moves through several quirky breakdowns and even an oddly-placed saxophone solo!

"Heaven and the Weak" is my favorite track on the record, and arguably the best. It starts out with softly plucked strings in the beginning, and later resembles Novembre as the metal guitars enter. Not to be outdone, there is a nasty thrash metal interlude before the song returns to a recognizable form. The guitar harmonics at the 6 minute mark really do it for me.

The album continues in this fashion through two soft interludes, the huge doom-metal organs in the beginning of "The Ferryman", another melodic post-rock type progression and clarinet solo in "Girl with a Watering Can", and the unpredictable changes of "Birth Pains of Astral Projection", which sounds like soft rock, death metal and jazz all at once. The album concludes peacefully with the melodic and thickly layered "Geography" which serves as a sort of beautiful sunset at the end of a very long and very very strange journey.

This album is HIGHLY recommended for all fans of avant-garde music and progressive metal. It's certainly a hard pill to swallow, but so is most good prog rock. It is certainyl not a 5 star record, and it takes a special kind of ear to really appreciate it. I give it about 3.75ish stars, so in the spirit of avant-music, let's just round to 4. Be warned, however, it is NOT for everyone.

Maudlin of the Well, how can I describe this band? Well, to put it shortly, they are an ambient post-rock thrash death metal band with avant-garde tinges. Now if that isn't wordy I don't what what wordy is. Anyway, their highly acclaimed album Bath, in my opinion, isn't all that the other reviewers are cracking it up to be. Sure it's highly creative, highly challenging, hauntingly beautiful, and crushingly powerful, but there seems to be a balance issue on this album. The album can go from ethereal and very spacey to disturbing and brutal within a matter of seconds. It is in no way a masterpiece, but it is far from a catastrophe.

Let me start with the opener, The Blue Ghost/Shedding Qliphoth. This song begins the album with a very dreamy multi-layered echo of gentle guitars and soft vocals. It has the traditional post-rock crescendo that slowly drifts into silence. It is a beautiful opener. They Aren't All Beautiful is a dratic juxtaposition to The Blue Ghost in that this song is extremely heavy and brutal. The growls in the beginning remind me a bit of a low register Mikael Akerfeldt. The guitars also remind me heavily of Opeth with the dissonant chords and progressions. The over the top screaming towards the middle of the track, though, are something I can't really seem to grasp. The music is great, but the vocals ruin it. Add a slightly off-placed sax solo, and you have a death metal/saxophone recipe that succeeds in most aspects.

Heaven and Weak continues the ambient dream of gentle guitars and vocals for about half of the song, then it breaks out into a massive riff based metal piece towards the end. A group that can effectively segue from gentle to brutal really know what they are doing, in my opinion. The (Sign of the) Four is short little acoustic piece that once again continues the post-rock trend. The Ferryman begins with some ominous church organ and then breaks into another Opeth type riff. Keep in mind that even though the have Opeth tendencies, this group in no way is an Opeth clone. This is probably my favorite metal piece on the album, really strong riffs and some strong operatic female vocals. Marid's Gift of Art is a quiet and somber piece that has a beautiful and triumphant trumpet solo towards the middle. The gentle vocal and the chords on the guitar really make this one of the more beautiful pieces on the album.

Girl With a Watering Can begins with some anxious clarinet that ascends and descends with beautiful tones and a somber melody. The band then kicks in with some slightly chorused guitar and some melodic trumpets. The drumming remains subdued as the female vocalist sings beautifully and swirls with the other instruments. The piece quickly picks up in pace and takes the listener down some more ethereal avenues. A slightly heavy riff comes in around the 3:30 mark and the song takes a heavier direction for the rest of the song. The vocals become more echoey and spacey and the violin in the background mixes well with the distorted guitars. Around the 6:30 mark the song hits it's heaviest with a nice wah guitar and keyboard solo.

Birth Pains of Astral Projection begins with some great guitars playing different riffs in the same key. An ethereal keyboard gives this track a more mysterious feel. There's a great sax solo at the 1:30 mark and the song continues the melodic pace for the next 2 minutes. The vocals then become hectic and mutli-layered and a progressively heavier riff is played with a nice solo on top. The song then takes many different forms, with growled vocals over uneasy guitars. scream sections, and clear vocal over some nice clean guitar chords. The (Sign of the) Nine has a jazzy feel with a walking bass line and some nice unison guitar/piano lines. A nice acoustic guitar theme is also presented. The album finishes with Geography, a nice gentle guitar based track that has a earthy organic vocal and some nice flute work. It evolves in a great fashion and ends the album withs style.

In the end, I feel that while this album is not a masterpiece, it is a great achievement for the now defunct band. My only real gripes are the unbalanced sections between metal and ambient work, and the vocals on They Aren't All Beautiful aren't at all beautiful (pun intended). Fans of metal and post-rock will find something to like with this album. Me? I'll give it a 4.5/5.

Ah! My favorite maudlin of the Well album. Gentle soft and full blown death metal (?)

This album showcases the soft side of maudlin of the Well better than Leaving your body map. It still carries the same method used by them and it's still a very heavy album with fast drumming and guitar playing with growling vocals and overall unpredictable. So hold on, sit tight and enjoy the music however you can because this will be one hell of a ride full of extremely gentel melodic songs and Over the top death metal.

Again, the first song on the album represents most of the style of the album. While Leaving your body map started with a bang, this one is more laid back instrumental with atmospheric guitar playing, soft trumpet play and acoustic guitars and at the end all of those instruments makes a very enjoyable soft song mix perfectly. Little by little the songs starts to build up adding drums and other instruments until it blows with the same guitar riff but now with distortion and another guitar in the back and with that the song ends. Yet the second song is completly different wich is mainly a death metal song with growling vocals and Toby Driver screaming with all that he's got. A very pompous and angry song recommended to keep your adrenaline flowing.

By the start of the third song you'll clearly noticed the difference between Leaving your body map. Soft acoustic guitars,more use of the violins and wind instruments and the soft voice of Toby Driver's clean voice even at the hardest parts of the song are the clear differences. Another great thing of this album is the better use of the female vocalist, Maria-Stella Fountoulakis. She shines in the songs even if she's singing in an operatic way like in The Ferryman or soft and nice like in Girl with a watering can. The atmosphere is less doomier and more like in a pastoral field with a garden scene with a sepia overtone. (get the view?). The songs also blend a little better making the transitions between soft and hard flow nicer. A nice thing about this album that I like is the strange use of . . . water. On gentle songs like Interlude 2 its used like any normal instruments slaping their hands and making a very nice rythim carried by the bass and some piano playing.

In conclusion, This is a more mellow album with more varied use of instruments, more accesible and the essential album of maudlin of the Well by my point of view although the other is strong contender too. If you're looking for the soft MOTW get this one, but if ou're looking for a harder MOTW then go and get Leaving Your Body Map.

4.3/5

This album proved Toby Driver is one of the most creative forces of my era(class of the 00's).

Take all preconceptions that you have about progressive music and throw them out the window. Toby Driver, like Garm/Trickster G. of Ulver, have more or less blown away all their competition and have created bands/projects which totally change the approach to music.

Relying on a more artistic feel, Maudlin of the Well have created music with no intention of ever selling out to the man. The music is free-flowing from passage to passage, has some of the most unexpected twists and turns, ranging from ambient post-rock experimentalism to full throttle aggression that reminds me of Meshuggah, though not nearly as technically oriented. The track Heaven and Weak makes that point fully.

If you believe music has gotten stale, that their is nothing new out there, I urge you to give Bath a try. It may not be to your tastes, but you will certainly not think all creativity has been dried up. Please also check Bryan's review, as he is a better writer than me on this subject.

I've often heard people talk about albums in terms of how they take them to a certain place in their minds, transport them if you will, and apply this only to the most highly regarded and, for them, successful albums. I'll be honest and say that I have no idea what they are on about. Well, I had no idea before I bought this, maudlin of the Well's Bath, partnered with Leaving Your Body Map, which does exactly that. Listening to it (and Leaving Your Body Map) almost always takes me to a place in my mind where I am totally immersed in the music, an experience that I don't think I could even attempt to convey into words. What I will try to convey is how it got me there. This album is a huge step up from the impressive debut my Fruit Psychobells... a Seed Combustible, by making a huge step up in the composition of the songs, which wasn't exactly lacking on that first album anyway. There's a maturity that comes across here in the bleak yet relaxing atmosphere that gets punctuated by moments of savage power from the death metal inspired sections, bringing a whole new meaning to the song title They aren't all Beautiful.

The only flaw to this near perfect album is the inclusion of Uncovering the Gift. Those of you that have the 2006 remasters with the enhanced liner notes will know that Uncovering the Gift was one of Toby Drivers very first recordings way back in the early- to mid- 90's and such has the production quality you would expect from a basement recording of that time, i.e. dreadful. Despite the fact that it clearly possesses many of the hallmarks that would be hugely developed in the proceeding years, its serves to bring me back from my place with a bump and just brakes up the flow of the end of the album, a great shame. The best songs on here are Heaven and Weak (a truly amazing song), The Ferryman, Girl with a Watering Can and Birth Pains of Astral Projection. This album is a must for any fan of truly experimental music.

Toby Driver, a genius in my book, maybe one of the most original thinkers to be born, nothing he has done ever lost my attention for too long, almost everything is perfect. My biggest icon in modern music, whether it be the chaos of Kayo Dot, the eeriness of Tartar lamb, or the just plain weirdness of his solo album, everything he touches turns to gold. Of all his projects though, Maudlin of the Well is the greatest, honestly a band that has done so much for me as far as my musical growth. This group helped me expand my mind to so many different genres, and styles, but not only that, but how to blend them into three monumental albums, this one being the best, BATH.

The music of Maudlin of the Well is incredibly diverse, one minute you may be in a straight up death metal song, the next you're listening to some jazzy horns, the next you're listening to an acoustic folky song, and it all fits. They're so eclectic it wouldn't be wrong to call this band avant Garde, to me though, that's the beauty of the music, they're not afraid to put some intricate post rocky lead line of a horn section, or add a church organ with some death metal vocals to add a doomy effect. To me it all works, it's possible to make beautiful prog metal, with strings and not be a lame symphonic power metal band, and you can add horns and long songs and not be a post metal band, this group belongs to no genre.

Bath is a companion album to the almost equally amazing Leaving your body map, and apparently is the first part of who knows what concept. It's a bit diverse than Leaving your body map, as far as the songs go, and also, by the time you hit the song Birth pains and astral projections, you feel a certain emotion that just eeks out of the speakers that just doesn't hit the same level on LYBM. This assortment of ten songs may very well be my favorite made, every song is extremely special in it's own way and each very different than the other. It's more jazzy, it's more metal, yet at the same time it's a little softer than anything else Toby has ever put out. It's just beautiful.

Okay you're probably tired of listening to my fanboyism, so I'll get into detail about the music. While most of the songs are indeed metal, most of the smaller tracks around the metal songs are usually softer, acoustic interludes, each one staring with a jazzy chord progression, then slightly building up with some horns playing a melody, then another guitar will come in and play perhaps a lead line, or a parallel chord progression, while the double bass will throb away. There are four track in these two albums called the interludes I-IV. The other softer tracks on this album is the opening song song, and the beautiful three minute Marids gift of art. The firs an instrumental starting with only an acoustic guitar, and progressively getting bigger and bigger adding multiple guitars, keyboards, and eventually drums, until the very end when te electric comes in for a huge climactic ending. Marids gift of art is just a pretty lullaby by Driver, with only his guitar his voice, and a trumpet to end the song. I know sounds corny, but it really is one of the prettiest songs you may ever hear.

Then there's the metal song, all of which follow no common structure, and are chopped up into three or four different sections. While most start with an eerie series of notes on the guitar, keyboard, or church organ, some like they're not all beautiful start with a bang and go right into furious drumming and strumming, with some of the deepest, yet clearest death metal vocals ever, which just capitalizes on Toby's amazing voice. This song is pretty much the closest MotW gets to a straight up death metal song, though still is very proggy. The other songs usually are guided by the vocals, most of the time harsh as you go on to crazy chord progression, double bass drumming, and some incredible guitar wizardry. The breakdown will come when the vocals become the most horrifying, and the guitar at it's most crushing. The atmospheric keyboards will then take over most likely with some electric guitar in the background doing a lead line, and some clean vocals usually singing about something simple, like love, trust, or a crazy day. From then on the song will almost disappear to nothing, then out of nowhere the chaos comes back and just punches you in the face for the last minute or so of the song.

There are two main elements in the music of Toby Driver that he never fails to bring forth, and there is no exception on this album: His Electric guitar and Voice. His electric guitar is on every son except the interludes, and there just seems to be layers and layers of it, I know there is more than one guitar player, but sometimes I can swear I can hear four different guitars going around at some point, and I just find it amazing that he can go ahead and capitalize on the electric distorted guitar, whether it be a lead line, solo, or riff and still make it tasteful, and not too pompous or obnoxious.

His voice is will always be a staple point to all his music, it's so youthful, and almost punky, and he doesnt have a very large range, but what he's got he's able to melt it perfectly with the music he creates, and create an atmosphere of some solemn depressing mood. He also has so many different types of grunts and scream. In my fruit psychobells you hear a black metal scream (sadly he doesnt use past that), an extremely deep death growl, a post metal hoarse yell that IMO makes Birth pains and astral projections one of their most superior songs, and there's also that blood curdling scream, which he used all the way up to Dowsing the anemone with the copper tongue.

I understand why some people can be turned off to Maudlin, their just so crazy and eclectic, it's very inaccessible, and it takes weathered ears to learn to appreciate this music, also unlike Kayo Dot, the harsh vocals, and extreme metal are arguably more prominent than anything else, and we all know that's not for everyone. Kayo Dot may be the reincarnation of Maudlin, but I think they lost a little of their youthful originality in that band, don't get me wrong, Kayo Dot may also be in my top five Fav bands, but what some people call immaturity is what I find best in Maudlin.

I hoped what I wrote can shine a little light on this band, or album, but really words are no substitute, you have to subject yourself to the music, and drill it many many times, before one day it will just click, and you'll just be taken back by the power and majesty of this band. Like I said though these guys are truly not for everyone, but to anyone into metal, and want some music with that extra punch, I cant recommend this band to you enough, this is probably my favorite group to exist, and need to be heard.

5 stars no doubt

Bath is the second full-length studio album by American ( Boston, Massachusetts) experimental/ progressive metal act Maudlin of the Well. The album was released on the Dark Symphonies label along the third full-length studio album by the band Leaving Your Body Map (2001) shortly before Maudlin of the Well disbanded. The album was re-released in 2005 with three bonus tracks in The Ocean, The Kingdom, And The Temptation (Demo), Uncovering The Gift and The Horror Of Lunars Retreat.

The music on the album is very diverse and the band takes elements from many genres and mix them into their own style. Death metal parts, mellow acoustic sections and atmospheric parts. There are both growling and clean male vocals as well as female vocals in the music.

The musicianship is excellent and the variation in the music gives the musicians the opportunity to show various sides of their skill.

The production is good. The sound quality is much better than on the debut My Fruit Psychobells...A Seed Combustible (1999).

Bath is an interesting experimental/ progressive metal album but I can´t say it moves my world. The vocal melodies seem a bit weak and they are not very memorable to these ears. Overall the album comes off a bit inconsistent to me. Maudlin of the Well have many excellent ideas in their music but generally the mood in the songs and the diverse nature of their music don´t suit my taste. I´ve given it many spins but still miss the charm that I know others hear. A 3 star rating is deserved.

Reviewer frenchie basically said what was on my mind after hearing just two tracks. But also two extremes. And third track implements another one, "softer" extreme metal, without growling voice. While first one is calm and second extremely (well), extreme, this pattern is cycling around entire album. I would prefer calmer, more post metal like sounds, but can handle even extreme. To some extent. This combination simply doesn't fit me. You either have to be masochistic, or be able to take extreme things when you least expect them. But that's the hard thing here, I can't sink this album just because of it. Not that I want to do it. I hear promising ideas here, things which pleased me in their 2009 downloadable album. But the feeling that in one minute you hear Marid's Gift Of Art, extremely song, this time extremely calm, reminding me sea waves and in second time you're overwhelmed by ear-assault is confusing and also quite hostile. You're not feeling safe while listening music, that's not good thing. Or first part of Girl With a Watering Can, there's calm melody. Then, in second half, it's slowly coming to heavy prog style. But slowly, not sudden, unexpected changes. You have a time to get accustomed and feel more comfortable. "Bath" sometimes care about its listeners, but just from time to time.

4(-) for mostly balanced and consistent album with flaws mentioned before.

Maudlin Of The Well - BATH

Review by ProgKidJoel

My third maudlin of the Well album came in the form of bath - A perfect opera of metal and jazzy chord progressions, which leaves a lasting impression for weeks after the first listen. Toby Driver and the gang really hit the mark on this one, and when listened to in conjunction with its partner album, LEAVING YOUR BODY MAP, you can be taken on a one of a kind avant-garde musical journey. This album is definitely not beginner's material however, and took me several weeks to begin to appreciate.

The opener, THE BLUE GHOST - SHEDDING THE QLIPHOTH, opens with around 3 minutes of soft guitar playing, continuing into horn playing with some more soft guitar chords. This track continues in a similar fashion until it explodes into a prog-metal wonder in its last minute. Interesting chords and rhythms mark this opener's end, with unpredictable tones and riffs.

THEY AREN'T ALL BEAUTIFUL explodes with distorted guitar strumming and explodes into insanely brutal metal, complete with growls and double kicks. This track continues in a metal fashion for its entire length, and this track proves this album is certainly not for beginners. This track continues with several riff changes throughout its lifespan, and is an interesting follow up to the jazzy and acoustic BLUE GHOST.

HEAVEN AND WEAK is one of the best tracks on the albums - TOBY DRIVER's signature vocals play perfectly over a soft and understated drum beat and riff, creating a concept within its less than 8 minute length, which is a deeper concept than some bands can develop across an entire album. This is a beautiful track, featuring some great vocals and guitar work, worthy of prog giants. This track features some lovely overlapping synth and acoustic guitar, with muffled vocals for some sections. The rhythms in this track are jazzy, yet confusing and unpredictable. At around 3 minutes, this track bursts into a avant-garde metal fest, which is incredibly interesting, as both rhythms overlap eachother, in and out of perfect sync. The last 1 and a half minutes of this track are amazing, featuring brilliant drumming and complex rhythms which still purvey a story and never resort to technical overture.

INTERLUDE 1 is a short and beautiful track, featuring fantastic guitar work. This lasts for around 1.30 minutes, and there isn't much to be said about it...

THE FERRYMAN opens with haunting organs, which continue until around 50 seconds in. At this point, incredibly soft yet technical jazz-prog takes over, featuring lovely guitar work on both fronts. Unpredictably, this track detonates into an incendiary tech-metal masterpiece, featuring masterful rhythmic sections underlaying guitar work worthy of early DREAM THEATER. This continues for several minutes, until an insane organ solo overlaps the unpredictable madness. This once again continues until the last minute, which is insanely creepy voices and water noises which make my hair stand... Literally.

MARID'S GIFT OF ART is a much shorter track than the others, but excellent none-the-less. Featuring soft guitar work which sounds alot like the INTERLUDE tracks, this opens with vocals around 1 minute in. This soft singing perfectly compliments the great soft guitar work, and its incredible how well these two separate instrumentations play off eachother. This track then dies out with soft guitar work and lovely horn work, which transpose eachother in a way in which it seems motW have truly mastered.

GIRL WITH A WATERING CAN opens with soft clarinet playing, which eventuates into a jazzy masterpiece beyond belief.... This track also features the fantastic vocals of Maria-Stella Fountoulakis, which go fantastically with this great soft track. At around half way, this also breaks into a metal extravaganza, although it is much slower and comparatively softer than the rest of Maudlin Of The Well's metal tracks. The last two minutes of this track are filled with masterful guitar soloing, and later keyboard riffing. This is another great track in the motW catalogue.

BIRTH PAINS OF ASTRAL PROJECTION is perhaps the most song-based track on the album, but its brilliant regardless. At around 2 minutes in, this breaks into more extreme metal with screams and growls, highly reminiscent of OPETH. Then, at six minutes, we see a marked change in Maudlin of The Well's playing. This breaks into an insanely perfect song-based composition, with great vocals and a memorable riff. This track is hard to describe, and although it fits in perfectly, it stands out on the album due to its different compositional qualities. This track also features TOBY DRIVER's best guitar solo, which is absolutely epic. One of the best guitar solos I've ever heard, this marks a step-up in motW's straight up rock compositional skills, which is more than warmly welcomed.

INTERLUDE 2 is another bitter-sweet short track, this time featuring a more entertaining acoustic bass riff than the other soft guitar work on INTERLUDE 1. Still very little to say, although this does lead perfectly into my favourite Maudlin Of The Well track...

GEOGRAPHY is a genuiinely perfect track, featuring beautiful guitar and perfect vocals. This song follows in suit, and takes a more song-based writing structure. The lyrics in this track are beautiful; BREATH IS REAL, ANGER'S REAL, SLEEP ON YOUR BIRTHDAY AND CRY... CRY MY BABY... LET ME WASH YOU, I HAVE NO EARS... FOR MY LADY. This track follows its first chorus into the second verse, gaining momentum and melancholic beauty through its slow and tense build-up. This track features excellent guitar work, which is amongst the best Maudlin have ever released. The last two choruses are amazing - This first featuring lovely slide guitar work over the top of the vocals and simple rhtyhm. The last features a very heavy feel, and is perhaps motW's most emotional use of metal to date. The vocals here are perfect, and its hard to find an album closer of this quality with most bands. A perfect finish to a perfect album!

This album is definitely worth a purchase, if you can find it... An avant-garde masterpiece.

-Joel