LIGHT BEARER

Yes, chaos ensued. The guitars charged in only to become that cliche sort of "white noise" that this genre so loves. The vocalist (if you can call him that) started screaming illegible nonsense with almost a punk hint to his voice. The album focuses on these horrible harsh vocals, which is a real shame, as the clean vocals are quite nice when they show up randomly. This is one of the reasons that "Matriarch" is probably the best track here, as we get more beautiful singing, an excellent progression, and a nice ambiance. The rest of the album? You won't be able to wait til it's over and done.

This band, to my ears, sounds almost exactly like Ne Obliviscaris. I'm not a huge fan of that extreme metal band either, but at least they have amazing violins, a dichotomy between light and dark, folksiness, and their own approach. Light Bearer seems like a cheap copycat that employs more slow portions, and doesn't do anything nearly as well.

You know, I have nothing against post metal at all. I like the idea of having moody, texture driven pieces that tend to be very dark. But, Light Bearer does NOTHING to separate themselves from the pack. They fall into the same ruts that plague this subgenre, and their music ends up being "boring" (a word I hate to use ever). If that is your thing, though, be my guest.