THE MANTLE

4.5 stars. I was surprised to find out this band is from Portland, Oregon simply because from their sound I thought they must be from Norway or Sweden living in the woods somewhere. Well Oregon certainly isn't short on forests is it. On their MySpace site they list their influences as "Woodsmoke, snow, fire, wrought iron, fog, rain, stone, moss..." not one band is listed. On the cd itself there is a quote "The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship". So you get the idea of where this band is coming from.The music on this record uses a lot of acoustic guitars in these mostly mid paced tunes. The vocals are both clean and growly, although the growly ones are almost whispered in a sinister way, and he holds the last syllable of each word. So these harsh vocals actually are not that harsh or difficult to handle at all.

"A Celebration For The Death Of Man..." is a short instrumental of mainly strummed acoustic guitar and percussion. The sound does build somewhat and synths come in. "In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion" has such interesting and well thought out lyrics. Nice guitar line to open as drums and classical guitar joins in. It's building.Those sinister vocals come in followed by clean vocals and they continue to share the spotlight on this one. Love the guitar 5 1/2 minutes in. The tempo continues to shift slightly throughout. I like the line: "If this grand panorama before me is what you call God...Then God is not dead".

"Odal" is an instrumental that opens with some beautiful acoustic guitar. Drums and electric guitar join in.The guitar sounds so good 2 1/2 minutes in. Piano before 6 minutes as it settles. "I Am The Wooden Doors" is where they "let loose" a little bit with drums and guitar. Growly vocals before 1 1/2 minutes. It settles a minute later then it kicks back in with clean vocals. "The Lodge" opens with the sound of someone trudging through deep snow. Done that many times (haha). Guitars take over quickly we even get some "deer antler percussion" in this instrumental. Strummed guitar takes over as the sound builds. "You Were But A Ghost in My Arms" opens with acoustic guitar but becomes powerful quickly then settles back. Vocals before a minute are normal, although we get lots of sinister ones too in this song. Thunderous drums at times. The combination of electric and acoustic guitars is such a treat. "The Hawethorne Passage" is another instrumental. Great sound to this one with some steller bass at times.The samples 6 minutes in are cool, sounds like a strong wind. I like the guitar line that comes in as the wind continues to blow. Spoken words as it kicks in again around 8 minutes. Trombone late. Spoken words end it.

"...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth" has some outstanding lyrics including where we get the title of this album from. Bass, drums and strummed guitar sound incredible to open as clean vocals come in. Great sound here. Growled vocals quote from Cherokee folklore. Themes are repeated. "A Desolation Song" opens with acoustic guitar and accordion as reserved vocals join in. Some mandolin in this one before the song stops 4 minutes in and the wind starts to blow. Acoustic guitar joins in briefly as wind continues.

What an amazing trip this recording is. Funny but I don't feel like i've really connected with it yet on any emotional level or this would be 5 stars.