Review Summary: You stopped the whole fucking world didn't you
Rishloo’s second album 2007’s Eidolon was recommended to me from a Tool forum (surprise surprise). It was a beast of an album, heavy, epic, progressive and intelligent – basically everything I want in an album, come 2009 I was itching for more from this band. Feathergun, the bands 3rd album deserves your attention.
Feathergun is a sprawling expression of art – and in art I mean true art. Many bands claim to be artists, but on Feathergun, Rishloo really paint a picture. Lyrically this is some of the bands best work to date, the 11 tracks here seem to be linked conceptually, as to what that concept is remains open for interpretation. I was lost in this and with lyrics like “spinning on the dreaming room, a web of lies and tangled truths” (systematamatic) and “I’m leaving to walk this road inside my head” and “I am a figment of reality, I am lost inside a memory” (Downhill) and you can’t help but think that this band have written this album inside a dream.
Progressive is used a lot in rock and metal these days, but on this album you will hear a band truly pushing the envelope. Rishloo are not afraid of sprawling intricate sections, nor are they scared of throwing you a curve ball like the piano interlude in Downhill or the guttural vocal delivery in Turning Sheep into Ghosts (which I later learned was a guest apperance). Over the 11 tracks, you can get out of it what you wish, there is something here for everyone.
The layers of sound and I go back to that word again art will keep you locked inside Rishloos world even after the last track has played, and when Andrew vocally hits those high notes, It will hit you like a ton of bricks, this in itself is the bands weakness, as sometimes you wish the vocals would take a back seat, as the rest of the band a a very talented bunch themselves.
You stopped the whole ***ing world didn’t you – well maybe Rishloo may get close on album number 4!!
