Mouth of the Architect "Time & Withering" CD
[Translation Loss]
Everything I've read about this band to date has compared them to Neurosis and Isis, and I hate to agree (simply because it's unoriginal for me to do so, not that it's at all bad to sound like such artists), but the manner in which the bruising "A Vivid Chaos" opens up with a sludgy groove before sinking back and forth between pounding distorted rhythms and chilled out clean passages complete with eerie textures of droning guitar sounds does indeed bring to mind such comparisons.  There are definitely some aspects that are well independent of that whole approach though, such as a few quirkier runs that almost have a weird sort of metallic math rock edge, complete with a little added dissonance for atmosphere.  I'm definitely a major fan of the hoarse shouting and vocal layering though, which is pretty damn intense when it chooses to show itself (the bulk of the material relies on lengthy instrumental passages with sparse vocal arrangements at best).  "Soil to Stone", for example, opens with an excellent clean passage that uses a lot of interaction between the guitar and bass parts with carefully placed synths in the distance and eventually builds into some exceptional melodies with the presence of very mild distortion and reverb, where vocals remain absent until past the four-minute mark - at which time they only appear for a few seconds before the track sinks back into a really creative set of chord progressions and rhythmic structures (that, in all truth, sounds very little like the two aforementioned acts so commonly referenced).  "The Worm" even starts out with some distant piano and whistling sustained notes before more lush clean guitars jump in with a lot of resonant layering and pulsing bass.  This style persists for much of the track, and in the end it's actually among the more moving and emotional pieces, even when distortion breaks in - this is a definite favorite for me.  Three out of the four songs are more than 10 minutes each, all carrying along at rather consistently midpaced to moderately slow tempos, but the repetition employed is very effective, at times barely noticeable since there are significant changes in atmosphere throughout different passages of each song.  "Heart Eaters", the shortest track at just five minutes, is also a little harsher than the others, with more openly repetitious and stuttered rhythms and prominent use of electronics through what sound like some sort of twisted and manipulated samples of Middle Eastern music (highly effectively, I might add).  I have no issues with the sound quality at all.  I really like the spacious mix that gives everything its own area to move around in (without sounding distant or anything), which is especially beneficial to the warm and resonant percussion - which drops quite a few nice little fills in a sort of improvisational flow that doesn't seem too rigid.  The guitars are panned, which adds to the swirling motion that they get going on with some of the effects processing and layering, be it using ultra thick and subtly gritty distortion or ethereal reverb, etc.  The bass adds a ton of thudding density right at the core, and the vocals fall right alongside in the thick of it.  Good stuff, absolutely.  It's sort of curious because as thick as the guitars are, they're not terribly literal or overbearing in heaviness, so the band's definitely allowing every element to contribute to the force of their attack.  The layout looks pretty slick with lots of busy patterns and layered images with some metallic silver ink and one band of crisp and compact text across the back of the booklet (not to mention some strange illustrations on the inner spread).  Lyrically things can get pretty cryptic and in this case I'm all for it: "Insect sun of lucid skin.  Bury your spine when soil turns to stone..."  I'm all for it.  There's a lot of cool material here, and I definitely think the band will appeal to those who like it rather slow and dark, but not without feeling, of course.  Look into this one, I'm expecting bigger things from their future... (7/10)
Running time - 39:18, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Soil to Stone, The Worm]
Translation Loss Records - http://www.translationloss.com

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