EXPERIMENTAL/POST METAL

1. "Fragile Dreams" (5:30) originally from 1998's Alternative 4. Okay. Nothing to write home about. (8.75/10)

2. "Leave No Trace" (4:52) originally from 2001's A Fine Day to Exit. A powerful version of an-already great song. (9.125/10)

3. "Inner Silence" (3:40) originally from 1998's Alternative 4. Just okay. (8.75/10)

4. "One Last Goodbye" (6:03) originally from 1999's Judgment. Nice version of a good song. (8.875/10)

5. "Are You There?" (5:18) originally from 2003's A Natural Disaster, woven threads of picked stringed instruments (guitars, mandolin, harpsichord?) with pleasant folk-like vocals over the top (including choir-like b vox). (9/10)

6. "Angelica" (5:00) originally from 1996's Eternity thus making it the oldest song to be reworked for Hindsight. Electric guitars and full drums and electric bass are used here as well as strummed acoustic guitars and open snare, making it the one song on the album that sounds most like a proggy Anathema. The vocal and melody sound a lot like The Church or The Cure. (8.875/10)

7. "A Natural Disaster" (6:20) originally from 2003's A Natural Disaster, here given the lead vocal to Lee Douglas, who sings it like a Country singer (think Mary Chapin Carpenter or even Emmylou Harris). Even the electric guitar and cello add to the country feel and sound. But it's a grower: it keeps feeling better, Lee's sincere vocal performance getting under your skin. Vince's background performance on vocoder adds a lot, as well. Lee is just such a powerful, naturally moving singer! Matter of fact, this might be the most memorable and haunting song on the album. (9.25/10)

8. "Temporary Peace" (5:10) originally from 2001's A Fine Day to Exit. Rich Kid A-like electric piano with strummed acoustic guitar, muted vocals from Vince supported by Lee's b vox and some nice cello and Irish mandolin as the song progresses. Very nice. (9/10)

9. "Flying" (6:27) originally from 2003's A Natural Disaster, this version was the flip side to the "Unchained (Tales of the Unexpected)" single I picked up back in 2008 and was thus not only an introduction to the band and its music but became and remains a band favorite to this day. Drums and bass with strumming guitars, Irish mandolin, and cello also on board. (9/10)

10. "Unchained (Tales Of The Unexpected)" (4:18) the album's only previously-unreleased song, it was one of the first songs I'd ever heard by the band and has always been (and remains) a favorite. a weave of gently picked acoustic guitars and with mystery-deepening cello backs Vince vocal (with Danny's occasional background harmony support). I love the two main chords chosen: each presenting totally different moods (but not quite major and minor). (9/10)

Total Time 52:44

It's never easy how and where to place/categorize albums of remakes: they're not a greatest hits or compilation, just different studio versions (here, acoustic) of (mostly) songs that appeared on previous studio albums. The band did it again in 2011 with the eminently beautiful Falling Deeper. I guess it works for me cuz I like these versions of the songs well enough: some of them perhaps better than their original versions.

B+/4.5 stars; another near-masterpiece of stripped down, more-acoustic prog rock from these masters of delicacy and atmospherics. More Lee Douglas, please!

As their name is derived from Mamaluk, the Arabic plural for slave-soldier [I recall learning about this "mercenary" class from Age of Empires II when I was a kid, interestingly enough], a vaguely Arabesque air--not to be confused for the Turkish popular music genre, which I likewise recommend folks check out--underlies much of their music, as can be heard on the opener "Tegucigalpa". It must be the tonal choices used, but this light, echoing effect frequently enough heard on guitar feels sort of Post-Rock to my ears; certainly with such a vague label, nothing is out of the question. Funny to me, one of the first things I thought of, regarding the low, growling vocals used throughout the track, was "One of These Days" by Pink Floyd. A faint, ominous Mellotron rides beneath an infectious groove on "Vileness Slim"; this immediately pulled me in. It's a very chill sound, calling to mind perhaps the experimentation that was happening in Alternative Electronic music in the '90s, specifically with Downtempo. The meandering guitar collides sharply with keyboards and the otherwise steady drum beat.

Least orthodox thus far, we ironically(?) have our title track, "Vida Blue"; dissonant, eerie, vacillating in tension. It'll appeal to certain fans of modern Classical. Back into the groove, "Ancient Souls, No Longer Sorrowful" more prominently evokes the Mideast with a droning reed instrument that brings us on in; this is the first one in which I detected hallmarks of psychedelia (the dragging rhythm does much of the work). Really impressed with the guitar performance here. I would definitely credit Mamaleek with compositional know-how, their use of minimalism (here a singular, reverberating acoustic piano) being particularly impactful, not to mention beautiful. Back to handsome haunting on "Momentary Laughter Concealed From My Eyes", a short 2 minutes of church choir vocalizations and simple, brushing jazz drums.

Then onto the least appealing so far, "Black Pudding Served at the Horn of the Altar", a title I sincerely love (like most here). The vocals are just kinda silly to me, and the music provides me little satisfaction. The close is an apparent Doo-Wop sample; much as I am a Zappa-ite, not even this can save (no shocker). "Hatful of Rain" follows, another hypnotic rhythm, this time with bass most prominent. All in all, this one didn't do much for me, what with the strange vocal stylings, and it's sort of one-note, until about the midpoint. Approaching minute 4 is where this shift takes place, an opening up, a brightening of a dark song (a looming forward march only grows speedier, more unnerving). The drums are the best, most consistent component to Mamaleek to my ears.

Next is the lengthiest of the bunch, at over 10 minutes, "Legion of Bottom Deck Dealers". Low and slow, featuring a more-Eastern stringed instrument... I'm at a loss, though it sounds vaguely like a harp, and it sounds like stereotypical Chinese or Japanese traditional music (a koto?); it's a win. The lead guitar presented toward the beginning, buzzing and played with feeling, is reminiscent of Funk music, but also specifically called Todd Rundgren to my mind (I've been thinking of and listening to Todd a lot recently). All in all, the trajectory of the track is innately Progressive Rock. In minute 7, we get a sweet bridge section with a quirky mix of instruments and rhythms; definitely winning me closer to 'over'. One of those rare moments I wish an individual section were its own track. Finally, we have "Hidden Exit on a Greyhound", which oddly enough continued in the Funk vibes, replete with that soulful lead guitar. Maybe someday even vocals such as these can be something I'll innately enjoy; it worked for death growls of most stripes, so why not? Back in the low and slow, this ain't your mama's "Maggot Brain" [I should probably have heard this track in the last ten years to really go and say something like this, but, like, ya know, sue me, I guess].

I also guess we'll be continuing here... in due time. Hopefully it won't take me 5 years to get to whatever is next for them. All in all, especially as a Prog-dorkin' outsider, I'd certainly recommend giving this one a spin once.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0

The approach is as before: post rock, folk and prog metal all playing off against each other, but always at a slow pace, conveying generally but not always heavy, or at least melancholy, atmospheres. Trademark piano and strings drop in regularly, and sparse generally clean vocals punctuated by occasionally sulky growling round out the soundscape. The first couple of "tracks" are the most uniformly arresting, with several sparkling melodies, after which the album seems to settle, even drag a bit, into a predictably formulaic unpredictability. Unfortunately the divisions between numbers seem much less natural here than in "Pirut", and probably should have been even more finely demarcated if at all.

Not surprisingly, the metal quotient rises in the last 15 minutes, though it's unclear if this is conveying how quickly this fun adventure went south, so to speak, or the machinations of the apparatchik who may or may not have wanted the true cause or causes to go public whether they knew them or not. All I know is, when I plug the album title into google translate and set it to Finnish, I get an expletive that I'm going to assume is directed at the authorities. Then again, when I ask it to automatically detect the language, it proudly responds with "sorry for the inconvenience" in Indonesian, which might be an underreaction by the calloused.

This is one of the first disappointments I've encountered in the KAUAN saga. In spite of its noble goal, "Sorni Nai" sounds more and more like patched together outtakes from prior projects as the album plays out beyond its first 20 minutes. Those inaugural passages and a number of scattered themes later on do keep "Sorni Nai" from getting snowed under.

The EP features four tracks and a total playing time of 23:40, and as something new most of the vocals are female clean vocals performed by M. Hellem (Martyra). Manes still use ambient electronic elements to create atmosphere, but the music features rock/metal instrumentation too and actually reminds me of late 90s/early 90s The Gathering. The Swedes in Paatos is another valid reference (and artists like Atrox and Madder Mortem), and on this particular release the Ulver clone accusations, which Manes are often subjected to, aren´t true at all.

"Pathei Mathos" features a nice raw sound production and the addition of a female lead vocalist has not meant that the music has become more polished or mainstream oriented. It´s still dark and somewhat heavy rock/metal music with ambient electronic elements and a melancholic atmosphere (the music also features gothic rock/metal leanings). Fans of especially The Gathering should find a lot to enjoy on this release. To my ears Manes aren´t as unique sounding on "Pathei Mathos" as they previously have been, but there´s nothing wrong with the quality of the music. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

The pinnacle is the combination of III-V. III begins with a melancholically breathtaking theme on viola, joined by piano, other keys, guitar and rhythm, morphing as it goes. We then return to the original melody quietly at first then heavily, with vocals finally appearing in the last minute and they orchestrate the closing to perfection, and - spoiler alert - they do this again magnificently to end track VII. To me, it's also the most Russian sounding of the works of this Russian group, bringing back memories of old records my parents had. Yet somehow IV is even a touch better, and the longest at over 8 minutes. It incorporates the vocal melody much sooner, and its crescendos are propelled skywards by the background vocalizations of Alina Roberts who had enhanced a prior release. I have mentioned that it was sometimes hard to delineate the boundaries of songs on those albums, yet here, when the tracks were presumably an afterthought, they actually deliver both within and between. I could go on, but I've gushed so much already that you probably need to detour around me anyway.

I was by no means sure that KAUAN had the seeds of a masterpiece within them as I aired the previous 4 albums, all more than worthy enough to convince me to keep listening for FOMO. "Pirut" means "Devil" in Finnish, and it seems like Pirut has been at it again, luring us into wanton temptation with this exquisite cohesive work that so eclipses the prior efforts by KAUAN that it can only be awarded 5 stars. And I didn't mention TENHI even once.

Each piece boasts well honed vocals minimally but invitingly, real drums, and always expressive piano and synths, "Tähtien hiljainen laulu" is elevated by guest Alina Roberts' voice as instrument. "Ikuinen junan kulku" is the closest they had come to a masterpiece by 2011, simply sumptuous, but ask me again tomorrow. The finale is almost as grand, with more singing than usual, even fashioning pleasantly melancholic lead guitar breaks, and finishing with a measured homage to their doom metal origins.

If you didn't guess already, I find this indescribably lovely, but am going to round down until I have spent enough time trying to figure out what's wrong. Wish me luck!

The "Young Skeleton" track is a predominantly acoustic track featuring vocals and guitar, but as the song progresses more elements and layers of instruments are added to create atmosphere, and it´s overall a nicely melancholic rock song. "Mouth of the Volcano" opens slightly darker and heavier, but still features a mostly acoustic/non-distorted approach, although layers of sounds and samples are heard sooner on this tracks than it is on the "Young Skeleton" track. Around one minute into the song it turns heavy as distortion and both male clean- and growling vocals are added (and later female vocals). It´s actually quite the brilliant track. heavy, dark, and featuring an eerie haunting atmosphere.

It´s interesting how different these tracks are to the material found on "Slow Motion Death Sequence" and Manes have arguably not sounded this dark and heavy (and metal oriented) since "Vilosophe" (their second full-length studio album from May 2003). A nice little single release this one and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

I never thought I would be begging for a bit of the metal forged in their debut, or for extra metal at my meal period, but by far the best track here is "Fohn" and it's the heaviest, at least for the first half before they get all frustratingly reflective yet again. The group is tighter here though, perhaps because it's just the 2 main characters with no invitees, and they do make a joyful noise, morose though it may be. The acoustic and electric guitars, piano and violin traded off with electronic keyboards (including moogy touches) tastefully, sometimes too much so, and the vocals are spare and comparable to TENHI with voice lessons. Yeah I had to mention TENHI again. Only the finale is weaker, and, while it's sometimes hard to distinguish one KAUAN piece from the next, I really can't see the point of the last one other than to meet time limits, not that it's awful or anything.

If this is your "typical" post rock, I'm not sure why I am so late to the party but I plan to stay a while and take in a few other acts along the way, just seeing where that northern wind takes me next.