The End are great. As far as albums go, "Transfer Trachea Reverberations From Point: False Omniscient" the title of which would not fit on Sputnik, is superior to their full length "Within Dividia" by a large margin. Maybe it was the presence of Tyler Semrick-Palmateer from Mare on vocals rather than Aaron Wolff from Burnt By the Sun. Either way, seeing members of those two bands alone should spark your interest. This album was named Metal Album of the Year 2001 by the Canadian Independent Music Awards and then was rereleased on Relapse Records in 2003.
On to the music. It is awemazing (new word). Not only is it brilliantly technical but the song writing is immense and innovative. Frequent dynamic changes helpo keep this album interesting along with something a little more unusal - the unique use of instrumentation and sound quality. Many times you hear an undistorted bass playing chords all alone before the guitars and drums tear back in. The arrangement of these songs is impeccable.
An unusal standout in metal, the bass. There are many cool little fills going on and equally technical lines to the guitars which is somethign not often found, rather we usually hear blazing guitars with bass playing drone notes underneath. The use of the bass as an equally intelligent instrument adds to this album because we have no one, not two but three melody instruments blazing along. The drums aren't really a standout to me but I would be more than happy to have this drummer in my band. The vocals I generally don't notice although Semrick-Palmateer has an astoundingly thick scream. It's a shame we don't hear more of his clean vocals which are one of the most beautiful atmosphere instruments in music today (correct, no lame melodic sections that ruin perfectly good songs with cliched melody lines)
Each song here is a standout, with the exclusion of For Mankind, Limited Renewal which is just a filler. The dissonant passages and riffs that seem to intertwine between instruments make this album great. The lack of overly thick distortion also makes this album great because you can hear everything. This band reminds me quite a bit of Ion Dissonance, but cleaner and with mroe creative riffs and songs. There is so much energy, even in the softer spots (1:30 Her [Inamorata]) without cliched fast grind for the sake of random fast music. The cleanliness helps the listener understand that this really was though out and carefully.
Listen to this album please. Didn't like Within Dividia? You may like this. I just hope The End finds where this album could have gone for their upcoming album.
Listen to:
Her [Inamorata]
Opalescence II
The Asphyxiation of Lisa-Claire
