13 BLUES FOR THIRTEEN MOONS

First collab to write a review on this album, and the second to write a negative one? Yikes!

Well, for those of you who know me well enough on the forums, it takes me forever to write a review on any album that I get, so you're probably thinking; why is he reviewing the album so early on? Well, it's because there are only three real songs, and all of them are extremely straightforward, and predictable. I feel I'm giving this album an unfair rating, cause this was my first with a silver mount Zion, and I must admit my hopes were high for the former members of Godspeed you!black emperor, I was disappointed.

The first twelve tracks are all between four and seven second of noise, and generally, I thinks it's a great, and fun idea, typical of the progressive spirit. Then track number thirteen comes on, one million died to make this sound. I was really excited to hear Efrims voice for the first time, I was told it was haunting, and even tear jerking, once again I was a bit disappointed, but after a couple more listens, I understand why it gets all of it's praise (especially after hearing horses in the sky), it goes beautifully with the primal/muddy electrics in the background. On this album though, I feel the vocals and music don't really melt together like should, at least until the last song, but I'll get to that later. Anyways, after a couple of minutes of wailing, the strings come in with a memorable riff, then the whole group comes in with a very energetic ans exciting feel, screaming one million died to make this sound. At first I was absolutely blown away, and thought that the former members of godspeed, maybe didn't make a bad choice of leaving. ***ten minutes pass*** OKAY, YOU'VE BEEN SINGING AND PLAYING THE SAME F*CKING THING FOREVER MOVE ON!!! Honestly, a poor kid like me can only take so much muddy guitar riffing, and punk rock wailing for so long. I was thanking God when the song finally climbed down to some simple chanting, I mean I was SERIOUSLY thankful.

Well, the next song is basically the same thing for me, the song structure is horrible and annoying, and Efrims voice is just too much to handle after so long. Not only that, but the song thirteen blues for thirteen moons contains one of my least favorite lyrical subjects ever spawned: politics! So usually I just cant take anymore, and just skip to the next song on the album, also the most listenable, also the last. This song is honestly what saves the album from being a one star, with a feeling of depression while the strings are creating havoc as background noise, Efrims voice and guitar caress through the madness at a very calm and... Godspeedish pace. The first time I listened to the album, I replayed the song twice, just because I was trying to pull something positive from the band, and thankfully I did.

Really, the political aspect of Horses in the sky doesnt really bother me too much, but thirteen blues for thirteen moons was uneven, and concentrated more on the lyrics more than the music, which is good for some serious lyrical bands, with amazing singers. This is not the case for this band, I felt completely overwhelmed by the vocals, and I was ready for some musical relief, instead my head was rammed into the mental wall that is angry lyrics, and underprivileged music. Maybe with time to appreciate the way a silver mount Zion attacks they're music, the alum will grow on me, and I will edit. Until then, 2 stars.

*Anyone who reads the following review will notice that it doesn't agree with the star rating. Trust the rating if you're willing to listen to this album more than three times even if you don't like it any of the times. Trust the review if you aren't or absolutely hate Efrim's vocals and refuse to get used to them.*

Somebody stop Efrim! He is on the loose and he is lethal! Apparently nobody has convinced this group that they have terrible vocals, because each subsequent album boasts more of them. And boy, do they boast them! At least Isis knows their vocals are weak and so they bury them in the mix. This is such a shame, because musically the band keeps getting better. They have taken their sound to a completely new level - certainly seperating themselves from the inevitable Godspeed comparisons that they have been subject to since their former band's hiatus - and it really is quite awesome. So my feelings about their recent works are very mixed, because on one hand I want to give them praise for their vision and growth, but on the other hand the band should have the deceny to bring a quality vocalist on board. When the band first came about, I found Efrim's vocals strangely fitting for the group's sound. The emotion in "Movie (Never Made)" is so profound. But now the vocals are not solely used for emotional effect. The band has a message and a political agenda, and while they always have, apparently now it is important enough to fill their music with. And I would be fine with that if Efrim was not the only spokesperson. They could at the very least utilize their choir element a bit more, but the best case would be utilizing the choir more and bringing a second lead vocalist to share the parts with Efrim. I can't completely disparage him; he still fits a handful of parts.

Let's take a quick look at this album: upon first glance, you'll see that the format is much like This Is Our Punk-Rock... in that it has 4 extended pieces (between 13 and 17 minutes here), but the album has 12 tracks of noises leading up to the first song, which in light of the album title takes place on track 13. The music is a continuation in the direction they took on the aforementioned album, and really kind of resembles a mixture of that work and the subsequent Horses in the Sky. The first two tracks are pretty hard-rockin' pieces. The first one focuses a lot on chants, while the second is more of a solo vocal piece. The ideas presented are quite strong, but they suffer from being a bit too repetitive and then the dreadful excessive-Efrim-in-inappropriate-places sydrome that the band has recently come down with. But there is a light that is visible not too far from the end of the second song! After a weak vocal introduction in the third song, the band starts hitting random notes for a bit in a way that sounds like they're getting 'it' of their system. I don't know what exactly that means in this case, but the section is a bit random. Then finally, the band eases up and lets you enjoy their emotional music prowess. The second half has a little climax and everything in true post-rock fashion, and Efrim's vocals work. The last track, "BlindBlindBlind," manages to be the best track. From the softly strummed guitar and bowed strings to the minimalistic pizzacto strings portion in the middle to the mild climactic ending, this is piece makes the most out of the least. Ostensibly, the band put the least thought into this song, but unfortunately most of the thoughts put into the other songs weren't of much value in the end.

The band has the right ideas, but the application of those ideas still needs some work. It would be more worth your while to pick up the two album preceding this to get the proper effect of their recent vision. Hopefully they will get it right next time, because if they do, the result will be stunning.

I'm shocked with the amount of criticism latest ZION record receives :(

Seriously, this is their best record since debut (along with magnificent 'Horses in the Sky' surely). The main thing you should do during listening is to distance yourself from what you've already known about ZIONs. After short intro (12 diminutive drones) '1 000 000 Died To Make This Sound' begins, quite 'ZIONly' for few minutes (y'know, all these choirs and violins)...but suddenly it all bursts into Ambient Punk/Noise Grunge/Garage Folk stuff, with riffs thousand times more groovy than any rock'n'roll band EVER tried to play! Efrim shouts an alphabet, near the notes as usual (but never near the PROPER ones, ha-ha!), and you're yelling along, and when the song ends you feel like you've been playing it with them on stage. Good Lord, I've always loved both GY!BE and ASMZ for their subtle, even gentle sense of melody and atmosphere, but this primitive sweating ROCK blows me away! Easily the best track.

Namesake follows, the longest and dare I say the least captivating epic here. Some cute 5/8 playing, but nothing too spectacular (well, lyrics are even more angry and sincere than on any previous record!). 'Black Waters Blowed/Engine Broke Blues' is the shortest epic here (13 minutes long!), unjustly considered by many to be the weakest one too. Just listen to this 'we go!' part in the middle - these two minutes are my favourite bit in the whole album! Closing 'Blind Blind Blind' is the most 'ZIONly' track here, with predictable yet haunting climax and ear-friendly-easy-to-hum melody and cute chord progression. I must admit it's the most suitable track to end the whole thing.

Now, re-write your reviews, folks :) I mean it!!! '13 Blues...' needs more patience to get into, it's not your usual 'take this melody and play it till violin cracks' ASMZ stuff. It's VERY different from what they've being doing before, and I love it. My third favourite album from them...even second one, right after 'Horses...'. EXTREMELY RECOMMENDED!!!

At last, a band breaks the mold by re-introducing some real viciousness and spite to their post-rock suspendophonics. A Silver Mt. Zion seem like one of the big names in this smokey area of music and that might be down to the way they shift shapes between albums. ASMZ's previous work has had a gentility to it that has now been subverted - where once their song titles did the preaching and implied their punk stance, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons models itself on the aesthetic and their singer sloganeers unashamedly.

That's not good news for you if you're a rock centrist because this album promises extremism both in politik and in form - ASMZ run free, letting their songs spill over in length, delighting in repetition and chants, not questioning the amount of fuzz and tension in the guitar tones, unhurried and unconcerned with pruning or regimenting their music. Still it's this meander that sets their music apart from that of the indie-punk kid legion. They also understand that rawness in spirit and in technique don't have to translate into aggression or harshness and so a lot of the music here soothes (or insinuates itself into) the senses.

Aside from the opening composition-in-feedback, every song on Thirteen Moons is full of Efram's riot-calling voice (not quite Jello Biafra, not quite that guy from the Pogues, but possessing qualities of both) which can be divisive and has no doubt damaged the album's rating on this very site more than it should have done. It's certainly an indulgence but fiery, unpolished music demands a singer with those same traits, and because of these happy imperfections, when you've listened to the album in its entirety you won't feel like you've been eating plastic - it's a reviewing standby, but ASMZ's music is strongly _organic_. =P

My advice to people who wish for the return of legitimate anger and concern to music, for people who are sick of the recording studio being every band's frontman and for people who can keep their eyes closed for an hour without falling asleep: go get this one.

You know, I’ve been listening to this one for a while now waiting for it to click. So far that hasn’t happened. Unlike most of the other releases from A Silver Mt. Zion and Antiestablishment Glee Club Mounted Reveries Dog Mushing Cult, or whatever their handle is today, this one just doesn’t stand up and demand that you pay attention to it. I’d compare it to ‘This is our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing’ in terms of its lack of advancement of the Silver Mt Zion sound. But while that one was at least experimental in many ways, here Menuck relies very heavily on his trademark drone- riff guitar and affected vocals, sometimes at the expense of the contributions of the other band members. The longstanding string section of Thierry Amar, Sophie Trudeau, Jessica Moss and Rebecca Foon almost get buried at times, and there are few of the beautifully haunting string-laced crescendos or extended forays that made the band so distinctive in the early part of this century.

I didn’t even know these guys were still together until I saw a video of a 2007 concert recently, so when this one released I was actually caught a bit by surprise. The opening title “1,000,000 Died to Make this Song” sounded promising enough, but except for a couple minutes in the latter part of the song where Trudeau and Moss can be heard fiddling furiously despite every effort by Menuck to drown them out, I found the track to be wholly uninspiring both musically and lyrically. It seems perhaps Menuck has been angry for so long that he may have forgotten what for, and in some ways risks become a self- caricature if he doesn’t find a more articulate way of expressing exactly what it is that pisses him off (or inspires him, whichever).

The title track is much better musically with undulating percussive rhythm and crisp sound, but the numerous extended refrains of Menuck rambling behind his guitar with little else but gentle snare drums and bass make the thing seem way too long, which it probably is. It reminds me of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s much too long swan-songs on ‘Yanqui U.X.O.’, where it also appeared Menuck was losing interest in the project even before the group called it quits. One has to wonder if that’s what is happening here as well.

That said, “Black Waters Blowed/Engine Broke Blues” is the one song where the group clicks, but only because they seem to have recaptured almost exactly the same sound they had on 2001’s ‘Born Into Trouble…’. I have to say though that resurrecting a seven year old sound is not what I would call blazing new musical ground.

“Blindblindblind” sounds quite self-indulgent and gratuitous by comparison, much in the same way the opening track on ‘This is our Punk-Rock…’ did. That song ruined that album right off the bat in my opinion; while this one, coming at the end and somewhat offset by a lively closing four minutes simply fails to add anything to an already lackluster release.

One thing about post-rock is that the people who listen to this music are looking for something out-of- the-ordinary. That not only means artists who blaze a trail for themselves well apart from the musical mainstream, but ones who also continually reinvent themselves. A Silver Mt Zion hasn’t done that here, despite having had three years to make the attempt. They are still better than most of the music that’s out there today, but for them this is just average stuff, and I for one had expected better. Three stars.

peace

Whereas the preceding Horses In the Sky had found A Silver Mt. Zion indulging their catchier, more song-oriented side, 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons sees them tackle another dimension of their sound - their knack for ramshackle, threadbare, falling apart at the seams soundscapes. In fact, not since their first two albums have they got this avant-garde; possibly they were emboldened by positive reactions on the live tour they undertook to develop this material. (I saw them on this tour and they were on excellent form - and are much more cheerful in person than you'd expect). It's not quite their Lift Your Skinny Fists, but with the four major compositions all exceeding 13 minutes they're getting there.