[avatar =”Mosh” size=”50″ align=”left” /]Due to the volume of albums we receive here at Moshville Towers, I tend to pick the ones I’m going to review either based on “heard them before – want to hear the new stuff” or “utter sheer randomness”.
The Barnum Meserve’s self-titled debut fell into the latter camp, finding its way into my earholes as a result of me selecting to listen to something else in my playlist located about two places alphabetically prior to this release and letting the thing run. An hour or so later I found myself wondering what I was listening to. Because I liked it.
The Barnum Meserve definitely sit in “rock” rather than “metal”, but they’ve a hell of a sound. With two EP’s behind them, April 6th sees them launch a full 13-track album and it’s a beautiful piece of work. It’s hard to believe that this atmospheric masterpiece is the result of only three people.
Piano intros and interruptions are apparently a hallmark, but for this release they’ve also added an air of strings and some brass. The end result is a series of tracks that swell, grow, haunt and raise the hairs on the back of your neck.
After my first listen I had it down as “great for background music – wonderfully atmospheric”. However, on subsequent listens it’s graduated to “an album I would shove on and listen to… nay, wallow in.”
There are better tracks and some that are merely able, but the better one are superb – “War Games”, “Colours” and “Underneath the Grey” fall firmly into the latter. Spine-tingling soaring melodies couples with the air of strings almost literally lift you from your seat to be a part of the music.
The blurb calls it “cinematic” and, yes, you can picture this sort of soundtrack working in the dramatic scenes from a major Hollywood production.
Not something that’s going to attract the attention of the diehard death metal fan, but for those who like music they can wrap themselves up in, this comes highly recommended.
The Barnum Meserve is out on April 6th through 34D Records
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