SEPULCROS DE MIEL

The idea of Omar Rodriguez Lopez really going all out into experimental jam band territory seemed like a pretty exciting prospect, showing off a colourful array of some of his most mind bending, expansive ideas that felt completely unhindered by anything. Unfortunately, Sepulcros De Miel proves yet again that ORL works best in the confines of some sort of restriction he places upon himself, because for as awesome as this is in many spots, it also feels a tad aimless for a lot of the runtime. You've got a lot going on for sure, with the endless guitar solos having snippets of frenetic drumming or abrasive electronics interspersed throughout, keeping things feeling constantly spontaneous, yet cohesive due to so many spur of the moment musical decisions still feeling unified under a central aesthetic that's colourful, psychedelic and very abstract. The structure of it all is really what lets the album down however, as while there are so many moments that feel utterly incredible, especially part III and the way that a wall of guitars erupt in the back of the mix and craft such beautiful, melancholic melodies, there are equal moments where it all sounds like a mess that starts and stops a bit too quickly to fully invest me in any one particular aspect beyond "hey this sounds pretty nice". That said, this album really DOES sound nice so it's a shame that as a whole it probably could've used a bit more time being workshopped to truly achieve greatness, but at the same time, this shows that even some of Omar's less polished works end up being wildly successful in certain regards.