DEPARTURE SONGS

It is rare (at least for me) that an album you know nothing about shows its excellence from the first listen. I understood it had something special but I had no idea that I was about to change my top 5 for good. I know albums released nowadays have no chance beating the 70's masterpieces in the popular opinion but, in all honesty, this is the case here.

It is a concept album and, as the band says, it is "inspired by failed, yet epic and honourable journeys or events throughout history where people have done extraordinary things for the greater good of those around them, and the progress of the human race itself. This is a celebration and a tribute. Each song has it's own story and is a soundtrack to that story". The four stories "talk" about a man who sacrificed himself for the salvation of his friends, three brave men who did the same to prevent a huge catastrophe (the Chernobyl disaster), a diver who broke the limits to recover the body of a fellow dead diver, but eventually overestimated his abilities and the well known Challenger disaster. The seed that gave birth to this collection of stories was the death of bandmate Chris Torpy two years before and that is evident throughout every composition. Actually not his death, but the band's overcoming of that. Every track is full of emotion, even if not a single word is sang. There are some recorded speeches by influential men though.

The music can certainly be described as post-rock. I personally am not a huge fan of the sub-genre although the post-rock aficionados will feel like home. As you can see, there are lengthy compositions that build up perfectly to a climax (or several climaxes for that matter). The tracks I like the most are the opener and the centrepiece, but all of them are equally moving and emotional. What amazes me is that after all these years of music writing some people in Australia managed to write original music. There is still hope!

There are albums that make you feel and there are albums that make you think. And then there is Departure Songs that does both. It throws the pseudo-inspirational efforts you forget after the first listen (if you can make it that far) in the gutter. This is a work of art of the highest calibre, phenomenal by today's standards, something that you will remember for a long, long time. I cannot stretch it enough. You have to listen to this album. You can do it for free on the band's bandcamp page (where you can also find a lot of interesting background information and buy this masterpiece) or on youtube.