For all of The Ties That Blind I may as well be listening to any other one of a number of Neurosis clones that have emerged in the last five years. Even Neurosis sound jaded playing in the chin-stroking style they pioneered, so when a band like Mouth of the Architect trot out the same formula it gets to be a pain. The band play well but I question the necessity of another album that is too familiar the first time I hear it.
Translation Lost Records
This sort of metal was exciting when Neurosis mapped out its rough geography years ago. It was even exciting when Isis made a few albums surveying the finer details of the landscape but today, with dozens of bands crawling from the already flaky woodwork I find it hard to get excited about this “thinking man’s metal.” Mouth of the Architect at least make a decent stab at it, the music on this album is a lot more solid than the vast majority of the recent competition. There are moments where they break out of their shouty vocals and slightly challenging time signature riffing to add something new to the outdated blueprint. “Harboring an Apparition” starts off completely clean with only a slight reverb on the guitar. The reverb gets longer as the melody is repeated which gives a delicate intermission to the album. The song returns to the huge riffs but these two minutes of something different have freshened up the tired sound to some degree.
Unfortunately the rest of The Ties That Blind is too run of the mill to stick in my memory. When listening to the album I forget who it is although in the band’s favour I do think of them in the same company of good artists. Songs like “Carry On” and “At Arms Length” are cracking examples of rocking out. The sound is well produced and polished enough for it to sound impressive but not to remove the grit. There’s no point during the album do I think that the music is bad or that they shouldn’t have done that song. And this is what kills me about the band: they are good and obviously talented but locked into a sound that is not their own nor is it in any way distinctive.
Perhaps the saddest thing about The Ties That Blind is that by the end of the album I’m running to the CD player but not to press play again; I’m running with a Neurosis album to put it in the player in place of Mouth of the Architect. If they can tease out a more original sound on future releases I will be the first to champion them but if Mouth of the Architect continue down the identikit metal path I’m afraid I won’t be following their career.
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