REFLECTIONS OF A FLOATING WORLD

ELDER are a band out of Boston who play a heavy style of Metal on this particular album. I understand they change somewhat from record to record but I haven't heard any of their other albums yet. The Previous album "Lore" is apparently a sludgy, doom driven recording that blew a lot of people away. They are a trio and DiSalvo the guitarist also plays mellotron to my great surprise. I would describe "Reflections On A Floating World" as heavy but not doom-like and we do get lots of contrasts with the heaviness. I read one reviewer who said the vocals on "Lore" were distant, almost buried in the mix but not so here, and he almost shouts the lyrics.

DiSalvo mentioned in an interview that the title of this album comes from a Japanese term "The Floating World" which refers to a particular period in Japanese history where the arts were flourishing but also there was a self-destructive decadent lifestyle. It seemed appropriate to DiSalvo to name this album as such considering the times we live in in 2017. Interesting to me that JADE WARRIOR had an album named "The Floating World" with Japanese artwork. Oh we do get a couple of guests on here adding keys and guitar.

"Sanctuary" is a song that sort of typifies this album with the contrasts between the heavy and calm plus the amazing guitar work, especially after 4 minutes as he lights it up. Lots of feedback around 9 minutes.

"The Falling Veil" opens with atmosphere as sounds come and go. It kicks into gear around 1 1/2 minutes and vocals a minute after that. Love the way the guitar grinds away, just churning out the metal. A real shred-fest here at times. But check out the majestic mellotron 7 1/2 minutes in as it will go on and on as metal flies everywhere.

"Starving Off The Truth" is a kick-ass tune with vocals and a lot of heaviness. An interesting calm with keys starting before 4 1/2 minutes but the guitar and drums are back quickly as it slowly builds back to that heavy onslaught. Great sound when the vocals return.

"Blind" is the longest track at 13 1/2 minutes although the shortest is almost 9 minutes long. Kind of an experimental intro before it kicks in heavily. A calm before 2 minutes with vocals and piano. The heaviness explodes upon the soundscape rather quickly. Vocals will come and go the rest of the way. I like that determined rhythm around 11 minutes.

"Sonntag" might be the shortest song on here but it's also my favourite. Atmosphere, picked guitars and bass to start. How good is this when the tempo slowly starts to speed up(haha). I like this a lot. The atmosphere takes over 8 minutes in to the end. Love the groove to this one.

"Thousand Hands" is a great closer that seems to touch on all the things I like about this album. The amazing guitar early on and of course on and off throughout, the mellotron starting before 3 1/2 minutes along with the vocals and the calm sections.

It will be interesting to see how this stacks up with their earlier albums once I hear them. A solid 4 stars for sure.