FEED THE SILENCE

3.5 stars. Kind of cool to see that Ray Weston is on vocals here as he would go on to sing for ECHOLYN beginning with the "Mei" album. To be fair there are little in the way of vocals on this record.This is more about constructing moods and sounds in order to take us to a different place.

"Burnt Sunrise" opens with the sound of the wind blowing as synths come in.This continues for 3 minutes when it all but stops as we hear the softly played Warr guitar, with the electric guitar playing over top. Nice. Drums, bass, guitar and synths create a beautiful melody 5 minutes in.T here is such a unique sound going on here, it's great. "Nightmare" is a dark song with a heavier sound.This one has a good beat and some screaming guitar melodies. Almost 3 minutes before we hear vocals for the first time on this record. We are treated to a tribal drum rhythm with some scorching guitar solos. "Stages" is an instrumental that sounds like 80's KING CRIMSON with that Fripp-like guitar that stops 2 minutes in as synths and drums take over. Back to the angular guitar sounds on this my favourite song on the album. Some great bass 6 minutes in.

"Building the Worm" is a spacey and experimental instrumental, as the warr guitar and Warr guitar loops seem to play aimlessly. "Feed the Silence" has vocals but the song doesn't really kick in for a couple of minutes. There are some aggressive vocals and intricate guitar melodies.The second half of the song is quite different than the first half, as the vocals and instrumental work become more laid back and accessible. A good contrast of styles. "Out of the Dark / Dark Aether (live)" is a bonus track. It opens with eerie, spacey sounds until we get some Fripp like guitar 5 minutes in. And it sounds great ! Some heaviness 7 minutes in as drums and bass thrive, while the guitar grinds it out.

Good album that just falls short of 4 stars. It was the CHAOS CODE connection that brought this band to my attention.