SELENELION

This is an intriguing and surprisingly easy album to access and like. Over and over I find myself being reminded of 2011's excellent album by FEN, Epoch, but also a great deal of Selenelion sounds like I'm hearing the reincarnation of one of rock's all-time greatest bands, THE CLASH. Though Mellotron Storm calls this a Metal album, I am in no way having to brace my ears (and soul) as I have had to for metal bands (even for early maudlin of the Well albums). The engaging melodies and copious and numerous special effects take all of the rough edges off of this music. The opening song, "Souvenirs" begins like something off of an early U2 album. Heck, the mostly acoustic title track hails back to some of the psychedelic folk stuff from the 60s and 70s! (remember early Moody Blues and Greg Lake's contributions to ELP everybody?) Vocalist Joshua Strawn's very laid-back, pleasant voice is so heavily reverbed that I feel like I'm listening to THE CLIENTELE! (though Strawn's vocals are much further back in the mix.) There isn't a song on the album that I don't like. I definitely think this Experimental/Post Metal album should have the added "Psychedelic" label somewhere.

Favorite tracks: "Souvenirs" (4:43) (9/10); "En/Soph" (5:11) (9/10); "Relics" (4:49) (10/10); "The Column's Vein" (2:29) (8/10); "Vanth" (5:53) (10/10); "Selenelion" (7:03) (10/10), and; "The Zahir" (7:42) (10/10).

A 4.5 star album that I'm going to rate up because of consistency of quality and freshness, variety, and the fact that album keeps sounding and feeling better and better with each listen. Try it! If you like Fen, The Clash, Toby Driver, and "gentle metal," you'll probably like this one.