John:316 – Visions of The Hereafter – Visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

It’s a powerful and organic brand of post rock that knows one pace. In fact, Visions of The Hereafter actually shows its immense strength through restraint.

It’s a powerful and organic brand of post rock that knows one pace. In fact, Visions of The Hereafter actually shows its immense strength through restraint.

http://alrealonmusique.bandcamp.com/album/visions-of-the-hereafter-visions-of-heaven-hell-and-purgatory-alrn033

This is one of those LPs that feels longer than it actually is: I think it clocks in around the 50 minute mark but the sheer portentousness of the music, (look at the titles, Summer Holiday it’s not), can make you feel you’re going to go through the mill…. A lot of the sounds are thickly congealed and based on tightly compressed slivers of guitar: just check out the metal thudding in Fall of The Damned (into Hell) or the grinding, grainy backdrop created for God’s Holy Fire. I’m also all too well aware that this sort of music just loves to kick on and with titles like The Inner Life of God / The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit it’s hardly going to be a harpsichord fest is it? This particular track does start to ratchet up the noise levels but nothing ever gets too bruising.

But this doesn’t mean the record is in anyway lacking in dimensions or wit, or intelligence: on the contrary for something that appears at face value to be monolithic, so powerful, it’s a surprisingly smooth and multifaceted listen. And despite a sonic palette that certainly sticks to what it knows best, heavy work outs like Star of the Sea / Guardian Angel or Ascent of The Blessed (to The Heavenly Paradise) are mighty  impressive bits of music in their own right, the thunderous noise creating a kaleidoscopic, widescreen feel, the music flowing slowly on, sound tracking some imaginary movie….  It’s a powerful and organic brand of post rock that knows one pace. In fact, Visions of The Hereafter actually shows its immense strength through restraint.

A very enjoyable work: I was surprised.