Vinyl Review: "Belly of the Whale" by Ambassador

Belly of the Whale

Centuries ago New Orleans and St. Louis were a part of the same territory, The Louisiana Territory.

Other parts of the nation that don't have that direct connection to France don't feel the way we do here. Online pundits make fun of St. Louis for being the Gateway To The West.

But, we're proud of our historical position. We still remember a time when St. Louis was the European's frontier.

A family of New Orleanians (who came directly from France) made the arduous trek north and founded The City of St. Louis.

Louisiana, we're still siblings. So, we don't still make our living on the fur trade and you're still making yours off of...wait..

What was the New Orleanian method of money making back in the old days? Well, if it wasn't terribly obvious, Amabassador is from Louisiana, Baton Rouge to be specific.

Those old connections though, they never really die. Though my family isn't native to St. Louis, their music still speaks to me via French back channels. (Also, I'm not French.)

Ambassador

This is blood memory for me.

This is a band that will tell you they're Post Punk, but MC Lars also says he's Post Punk.

Maybe he's Post Pop Punk and Ambassador is Post (real) Punk.

To this reviewer's ears, they're more like Post-Metal. Kind of what would happen if Dead Register's vocals were copy and pasted onto YLVA.

That's not quite correct either. There's a similar style to the vocals, but the music isn't exactly... This kind of music is something t hat's felt more than than it's heard.

Maybe that's just me though.

Belly of the Whale is the rough hewn 2 X 4 after it's had a few passes of the woodworker's sanding. It's not quite cleaned down to the bone yet, but it's smoother than one might expect.

The record has nine tracks during it's forty three or so minutes. So, it seems a bit strange to label them progressive, because the average song length is less than five minutes. Though, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was a touch shorter and had ten songs and we all think of that album as a progressive masterwork.

It's not uncommon for a prog rock band to come off, well, showy. That's how bands like Pink Floyd hit for me more than say, Yes. For the latter, the songs feel like a museum rather than a painting. Ambassador was able to service the songs whilst being progressive.

These two concepts can exist in the same space. The tracks are complex and dense, but they're covered in a lovely candy coating. Miracle Max may have produced the record.

It's irritating to say, but the songs have groove. This is another reason why many prog rockers fail to capture the imaginations of people who don't play an instrument.

Belly of the Whale is just heavy enough, just mellow enough, just dense enough, and just heavy enough. Regardless of the superlatives that can be bandied about. What makes this album great is the band's ability write and perform amazing songs.

This is the debut LP from the Baton Rouge quintet. In 2016 they released an EP. It was unpretentiously entitled EP. I haven't heard that release, but if this is where they are starting, let's all great ready to bow down.

We might just have an arena rock band on our hands.

They sent me one of their packages, but not precisely the same ones. They called it a merch pack. Besides my record, I received a beer coozy. Like down in Louisiana, it gets hot here in St. Louis and it's important to keep your beer cold.

There were also a couple really cool stickers and a copy of the album on CD.

Before we get to the disc itself, let's talk about this cover art. Without fear of contradiction, it can be said that this is the best album cover of 2018. It's amazingly detailed, conceived, and executed.

It's just another example of how this band comes together and succeeds. The cover was done by the singer.

The back cover has a cool whale logo and the lyrics to the songs.

I've spun this record on two of my three main turntables, and on each one, the bass is full. The trebles are high. But what it's missing?

Any sort of surface noise.

From the artwork, to writing, to mixing, to mastering, to everything. This album is the perfect example of why DIY artists can survive and thrive in this modern day.

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