Review: Lesotho ‘A Flashing On Plain Glass’
Over the past few years, I’ve started to enjoy more post-metal bands, having dived into the genre to expand my knowledge. With long progressive compositions and the blending of sludge and doom, it’s the atmospheric nature that has won me over.
Bands like Neurosis and Amenra are fine exponents of this tension-building melodrama, but with their third album, Lesotho are putting their hat firmly back in the ring.
Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, the trio of guitarist Kyle Loffredo, bassist Cliff Cazeau and drummer Dan DeLucia have crafted five songs of intense and swirling emotions that make up A Flashing On Plain Glass. And right from the off, they impress with the band stating these songs ‘represent themes such as impermanence and a world of inevitable change.’
One area of the genre I’m appreciating more is the instrumental soundscapes that bands are producing. Like the album opener Marigold, which starts with a cacophony of noises battering your head before it begins to take shape and transports your mind into a dreamlike state of consciousness. The emotive side of the music is pouring out of each note, and it transitions impressively onto the next track, Frail Weapon with the fade out and fade in.
The sombre tone has a cathartic ambience in advance of an explosion of crashing cymbals, pulsating bass lines and crushing riffs before another change of direction, almost as if they are seeking solace from the world. What I’m particularly impressed with is that they have kept the songs reasonably short in length, with the album being just under thirty minutes, it has a greater impact on the listener.
gargantuan sway of emotions that you get deeply immersed in…
Fetch Quest opens with pounding drums as the snare takes a right old smacking from DeLucia, yet it never detracts from the impressive rhythm running through the melody. The tempo changes again offer a more reflective mood, and as the band comments, these five tracks are all about ‘the search to find an honest beauty amongst chaos.’ If you aren’t moved or stirred when listening to this album, then I don’t know what’s wrong with you, as it batters your soul before embracing it tightly.
Black Spotted Deer begins with a haunting piano leading to an overwhelmingly forceful sound that reverts to a melancholic edge. It’s a gargantuan sway of emotions that you get deeply immersed in, almost suffocated by in parts, as the musical movements go from one way to another. With more excellent fading, the title track takes over, striking a poignant note right from the start. One final pull on the heartstrings as the stirring guitar blends effortlessly with the rhythm, creating a dramatic number to complete a tremendous album.
Label: Independent
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Matthew Williams
