SCULPTURED’S EMBODIMENT IS JUST THIS CLOSE TO BEING A PROG MASTERPIECE
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 2:12pm by Axl Rosenberg
Here’s what I think it wrong with Embodiment, the new album by Sculptured, a progessive death metal semi-supergroup featuring members of Agalloch, Winds, and Age of Silence:
- The clean singing. Vocal duties are shared by Don Anderson and Tom Walling; there’s not a damn thing wrong with their death-growls and I admire the band’s decision to steer clear of auto-tune, but they perpetually sound barely on-key, and, frankly, it can get a little irritating.
- Keyboardist Andy Winter, while generally pretty good, from time-to-time overindulges in that whole organ sound thing, and while I’m sure he means to reference Goblin (whom Sculptured have covered), it can sound a little too jam-bandish, a little too much like Particle for its own good.
Now, here’s what’s right with Embodiment, the new album from Sculptured:
- ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE.
Seriously: this is a complex, challenging, just all around good addition to the recent string of awesome progressive metal. Everyone who enjoyed Between the Buried and Me’s Colors needs to check this album out; everyone who likes forward-thinking heavy rock needs to check this album out. Dave Murray’s drums alone are worth the price of a CD (or download or however the hell you get your music these days).
And the production is crystal fucking clear. Seriously. It feels like you’re in the room with the band. Slap on a pair of headphones and you can explore every subtle nuance of this album with no trouble – which is excellent, because it will most certainly take multiple listens to fully grasp something this complex.
It took eight years for Sculptured to record Embodiment, the follow-up to 2000’s Apollo Ends. Let’s hope it’s not 2016 when they put out their next one.
(three and a half out of five horns)
-AR
dan anderson? DAN ANDERSON?! c’mon man. didn’t you guys do a thing on agalloch not that long ago? no? well anyway, his name is don. and referencing between the buried and me in regards to sculptured is a bummer. read an interview with don here:
http://www.sonicfrontiers.net/php/story-26.html
he’s on a different plane of thought when it comes to songwriting,
After reading the first sentence I knew this was going to be a poor review. Although I agree that the clean vocals aren’t as strong as Brian Yager’s were in Sculptured’s previous albums, I highly disagree with you on Andy’s input on keyboards, I wouldn’t touch a thing. As for the album in general, it’s definitely album of the year material and I hope Don will enlist Andy and Dave’s services again for the next(?) Sculptured record. The drumming especially blew my mind.
This is the lamest most simpleton review ever written. Did you listen to the record or just get all of your info off of a PR sheet?
Particle sucks.
Here’s my review of this album:
Here’s what I think it wrong with Embodiment, the new album by Sculptured, a progessive death metal semi-supergroup featuring members of Agalloch, Winds, and Age of Silence:
1. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING