The opening track, "Waiting for Black metal Records to Come in the Mail" gets sucked into a similar trap. The track, "The Future," is an upbeat pop romp that feels goofier than it does anthemic. My only problems with this album lie in the weirder moments of the second disc, The Future. There isn't one blemish and the disc is powerful, compelling, and moving. In fact the entire first disc, The Plow That Brokes the Plains is perfect. "Who Would Leave Their Son Out in the Sun" is gorgeous and uses reverb to perfection.
"Holy F ucking Shit: 40,000" ends on an inexorable industrial march that is only sated by the sweet and wistful acoustic guitar to emerges after the din subsides. "Earthmover" is a similarly minded track that ends the entire collection on a beautifully monotone chord progression that unfolds over the last 4 minutes of the song. It's a shoegaze epic that is as beautiful and uplifting as it is dark and oppressive. "The Big Gloom" does exactly what its title implies. More specifically, these songs are incredibly powerful. Have a Nice Life's aesthetic, which is highly original and unlike that of any band I've heard before can only be described as sublime. Even their band name, Have a Nice Life, sounds more like a Hilary Duff song that of a lore-obsessed, genre-blending duo. They even rhyme casually throughout the album, which is a no-no in today's hyperartsy concept album landscape (consider the through-composed style of Circle Takes the Square's lyrics). While the album is amazingly ambitious (the individually named discs, The Plow That Broke the Plains and The Future explore countless musical and lyrical ideas over the course of its hour and a half run time), there is something grounded about the album considering the use of both analog and digital recording and the pop-dependent genres (e.g. While the songs are challenging and inscrutable, they also have downright catchy moments. While the songs are expansive and plodding, some of them taking 10 minutes to unfold in the spirit of post-rock can also be claustrophobic with digital, industrialized percussion and distorted, fuzzed out guitar. The two primary band members, Dan (ex-In Pieces) and Tim, wear their influences well, combining shoegaze, industrial, black metal, post-rock, dark ambient, and alternative to make a paradoxical, intriguing sound. All at once the album can sound deadly, harrowing, ambient, subdued, rough and refined. In the case of Deathconsciousness, the emotions and happenings of the life of Antiochus are perfectly captured in the mood of the actual music. In short, the concept is lofty, convoluted, and intense, not unlike the drug-induced dreams of The Mars Volta or Pink Floyd.īut a concept album can have a good concept but not be a good album. As a historical figure, Antiochus is absurdly obscure, and the collected materials in the booklet may be the most complete documentation of his existence as I cannot find anything on the internet or using my school's library browsing system. So when I got my copy of Deathconsciousness in the mail, and was presented with a double-disc album in a slim DVD case, and an accompanying 70+ page booklet documenting the life, literature, and followers of a 13th century Italian writer and religious figure named Antiochus, I was immediately wrapped into a realm of heresy, religious persecution, and murder (which are more aptly labeled as suicides). That album alone spawned countless fan theories, interpretations, and online communities just to investigate the odd world of Cerpin Taxt. Their first album, Deloused in the Comatorium, had an accompanying booklet that gave insight into the storyline, which allegedly documents the psychological journey of a friend who ODs and while trapped in his own psyche, decides to let himself die on the last track. The Mars Volta have led their fans through crazy narratives. Dark Side of the Moon has such a deep legacy that people figured out that it can be synced up with the beginning of "The Wizard of Oz," the opening ambience of "Breathe" accompanying the Miramax lion growling. Pink Floyd has enjoyed massive success with the anarchical The Wall and the spaced out Dark Side of the Moon. There's no better way to sell a concept album then to have lore surrounding the album's narrative.
Review Summary: The most beautiful album of 2008 has already arrived.
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