UNION

This album is nothing short of a masterpiece. Easily one of the best debuts I have ever heard and just phenomenal that such beautiful exquisite music can be produced on their first release. Just makes me wonder how they can keep the momentum going, but to be honest after hearing their new track Replica from their Live EP just released then I know they're going to follow this masterpiece with more of the same exceptional quality. Not many albums make me feel like levitating when listening to but this one does, I just close my eyes from beginning to end and I get transported. I'm gushing over this album, I know it, but I can't help it, it's just THAT GREAT!!!

Listening diary 11th January 2021: Ihlo - Union (djent, 2019)

It took me a few listens to get into this, and I think I know why - it opens with its two weakest songs. The title track in particular isn't a great introduction, and I'd even go as far as to call it annoying, but as you spend time with the record the rest of it opens up and proves itself to be quite creative and enjoyable. I'd even go as far as saying it's the best thing to come out of "djent" since that genre's timely demise in around 2015.

And the reasons for that is that the djenting is quite superficial - the band don't rely on the chugs or the genre cliches to write their songs, and these songs could all work perfectly well with any other style of production around them. The star here is undeniably Andy Robison, both for his vocal performance and his excellent keyboard work. The melodies here, particularly in "Starseeker" and the closing epic "Coalescence" are nothing short of fantastic, sounding more like Radiohead than Periphery. He consistently finds ways to find hooks in small twists and turns that keep the songs in the latter half of the album completely engaging, and the melodic synth lines add to it with some influence from post-rock and ambient music coming through. As someone who was never really a fan of the djent sound, this is an album that you can quite easily ignore it and focus on the songwriting and melodies.

7.1 (4th listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction