SALVATION

This is the fourth album from this Yorkshire band, but is the first one that I have come across. I see from the biog that they have supported My Dying Bride among others and the label itself have termed them as 'Doom'. While they have the melancholia of that style of music, that is about it as there are times when the easily the most prominent aspect of their music are Matt's Lawson's incredible vocals. Yes there are times when the music slows down and the riffs crunch out, but they can quite easily lead into gently picked chords that are almost acoustic in their approach. The album is only five songs long, but with just one of these under ten minutes in length this is something that actually requires listening to. It isn't possible to just put this on in the background as there are loads of nuances that only come to light when the listener is playing close attention.

The album was recorded at Priory studios in Sutton Coldfields, engineered by Greg Chandler (Esoteric) and mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Lotus Eater's etc). These guys deserve a special mention as it is the way that the sounds have been constructed that really make this stand out. I have long been a fan of MDB, but to my ears the apprentices may have surpassed the masters with this. This really is an incredible piece of work. www.auralmusic.com