LP Review: "S" by Mesmur

S

Over the years, it's probably obvious that I've spent too much time watching foreign films....most of them being from Japan, Spain, and Mexico.

Kurosawa, Almoldovar, and Miyazaki have all made films that simply have to be seen to be believed.

After watching those, it becomes apparent that the world is a very large place and there's a place for everyone within its expanses.

Though music is the universal language, sometimes it needs to be translated. Because of that need for translation, sometimes it can be hard to really know what music is.

There are Japanese songs on the shamisen that sound amelodic to my western ear. It's that translation that we all sometimes require to hear the inherent beauty. It can be hard.

Not Mesmur, most likely.

In all the time spent trying to figure out what music is or isn't, it's easy to miss the message of what they're trying to convey.

Just because we don't know how something came to be, where it came from, or why it is... well that's just not every thing.

Mesmur lists themselves as funeral doom metal. From my point of view that's a very narrow category from which they burst effortlessly.

This album feels like an adventure down the Mississippi with Huck Finn and his skiff, though far more metal, and a bit crazier.

This four track album takes the listener on a journey of the mind.

The amelodic synths, the sparse and crushing vocals, and the mood... It all adds up to a prog lover's paradise. If Pink Flood was totally metal back in the early 70's, Ummagumma would have sounded a lot more like S.

This is an album that's full of nooks and crannies. It will take years to traverse them all. Open a Double IPA, and take it all in.

In these reviews, my goal is bring the reader on the journey I took with the albums I review, but S, is very difficult to articulate what I heard, what I felt, and where I went.

You'll have to listen and take your own journey this time. Just know that this album has my full recommendation.

Release: 9/29/17
Genre: Metal
Label: Solitude Productions
Formats: CD/Digital
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