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| 4.0 excellent | excameljockey | February 4th 07 |
Jazz and Rock. Funk and Metal. Some rather odd music genre mixtures have turned out to be great. Some of course, not so much (I'm looking at you, Cross-Eyed Joe, you country-techno atrocity!). Achieve Albeit An Absence, however, manages to make a surprisingly loveable record with the amazing amalgamation they've conjured up.
This Door To Remain Closed During Work Hours (who I will refer to as These Doors, the name on the actual cd disc, from now on) play what I can only consider "Jam-oriented Progressive Rock with Hardcore Overtones in the Style of Meddle/Animals era Pink Floyd and Alexisonfire." The band also thrives on a near Techno vibe, with excessively long songs and repetitive riffs and beats.
That's another thing about These Doors. They take repetition and turn it into an intricate artform. They'll jam on a riff for minute-long lifetime and suddenly change tempo as flawlessly as Iron Maiden or a death metal band, while still staying alarmingly original.
Something that really sticks out for me is the bass playing. Ej Skinner plays it like a third guitar, with relentless riffing and an occasional bout of tremolo-picking.
While I enjoy the whole album, the last three tracks really do it for me. Just Another Example of Adults Transforming Your Magic...Into Static follows a Primus-like formula, and sounds like it was mixed backwards. If you were to split the song into section, it sounds like it starts with finale (which contains a chilling narration of what sound like a first-person account of spontaneous combustion), and ends with the intro.
Mr. 800-11 is (a) daunting track, coming in at over 18 minutes. The intro sounds very much like the intros to Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare and Yes' Roundabout. There's also a neat melody near the mid-point of the song that sounds the love theme from The Godfather, fitting as, just like the movie, I could listen to this exhaustingly long track over and over.
Before I Go To Bolivia is a wonderful track, with a very emotional reading of a Cuban revolutionary's journal. I'm going to go ahead and assume it's Che Guevera's, but I could be wrong. These seem to be the only of the album's sporadic lyrics that pertain to a song title.
Overall, Achieve Albeit An Absence is a beautifully ambient and well put together album, which perfectly suits as background or "sleeping" music (trust me on that one), but is still worth of car stereo status. It truly amazes me that anyone these days, let alone college students ("kids these days") have the patience, talent, and musicianship to write 10+ minute epics that are easy and enjoyable to listen to.
-4 stars
Ross Keith
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