The Mantle (The End~2002)
Please forgive anyone who wishes to talk about "The Mantle" - and then say the same things about it again and again. After listening to this heavily hyped album, itīs hard to resist the urge to find a good idea and repeat it over and over. Therein lies the problem -- too few good musical ideas, way too much repetition. This Oregon-based band knows how to create a dark and dreary, yet beautiful, atmosphere with a variety of instruments and sounds. Acoustic guitars provide the base and black metal style vocals, which are almost whispered, are combined with clean vocals that are terribly bland. The album has the feel of one long song, but that isnīt necessarily a good thing in this case. All too often, the songs drag on way too long and the same acoustic passage is driven into the ground so far that what could be a highly emotional and effective track turns to boredom. Many view this release as one of the yearīs highlights, but for me, itīs just a little too long on time and short on interesting melodies and songs.