Friday, January 13, 2017

LP Review: "Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandry" by Ashenspire

Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandry
My wife made the request that I read three pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone while my daughter was getting ready to get into bed.

Story time has long been a part of our family life and my daughter requests all of the stories she can get. It's also quite common for her to be reading in the backseat of the car, on the couch in the upstairs lounge, and anywhere else she can get her hands on a book.

It would have been easy to sit down on her little bed and start reading the words as they're written on the pages.

Instead, dimension was added. Voices were created. As I stood while reading this book to my wife and daughter, I performed it. The look on their faces was quite enough to make me keep reading, but it's important to always do a little bit more when you're telling a story if you can.

Ashenspire
Ashenspire is telling us a story about English Colonialism, the brutalities and absurdities.

When most bands tell a story, either in a single song, an entire album, or even through a series of albums, typically the essence of a story is lacking and the storyteller is always absent.

There's a strong voice half singing and half pleading "leading" the band along the 61 minute journey.

If you've ever listened to a man begging for forgiveness for taking part in an operation he never wanted any part of, then you'll know the timbre of the vocals.

Could it be that Ashenspire is trying to create an Alice's Restaurant for 2017?

Doubtful, but many of the same storytelling techniques of Arlo Guthrie are readily apparent, but there's a bit more to the instrumentation than a hippy playing an acoustic guitar.

Standard proto-metal instrumentation is all over the album, but with a touch of tavern violins. Speak Not of the Laudanum Quandry is one of those rare albums that legitimately defies classification, even now.

It's heavy. It's morose. It's angry...and he's sorry for what he's done and seen.

Release: 1/20/17
Genre: Metal
Label: Code666
Formats: CD/Digital
Facebook
Bandcamp

No comments:

Post a Comment