It’s a good thing Glasgow’s Fire on the Horizon and Charlotte’s From Oceans to Autumn chose to leave their split release from Forgotten Empire untitled; there are more than enough words on the cover as it is! Both bands describe their music as ambient, experimental metal, but make no mistake, this is a textbook heavy post-rock album through and through. While the sound lays somewhere between the oppressive density of Mouth of the Architect and ethereal tenderness of Sigur Ros, it lacks the dark tone color or density to approach what I would consider metal: the relaxed ambient soundscapes at their very heaviest approach the gravity of Red Sparrowes. On splits there is always a worry that one band will upstage the other, but (for better or worse) I was unable to differentiate the two bands through listening.

Compositionally, the album is excellent. Both bands demonstrate a mastery of the post-rock style, developing celestial themes through a slow ebbing crescendo of tension, layering textures until the song finally climaxes in distortion, only to repeat the process again for as long as sixteen minutes per a song. As a fan of drone, I appreciate numbing repetition as an artistic choice, but my only criticism is that I can’t help but think that every single one of these songs would be more poignant at seven or eight minutes rather than twelve. Nevertheless, this split really is an enjoyable post-rock release.

My issue with this split is that both bands really nailed the style too well. Not only can I not distinguish them from each other, but there is little to distinguish them from the seas of other fledgling post-rock bands out there. In a genre as overpopulated as this one, it’s critical to bring something new to the table. Objectively, I kept telling myself that the musicianship and composition were excellent, but, at the same time, there were only a handful of memorable moments that I didn’t feel like I’d heard before.

Music has value not just in its content but in its context. Were I just getting into this genre of music, I would recommend this album wholeheartedly. On its own merits, it’s excellent. But as a somewhat jaded post-rock listener, it fails to excite me. That being said, both of these young bands have potential and showcase themselves as extremely talented musicians in their own right. I will be keeping an eye on both of them because I am convinced it is only a matter of time before they break the mold and discover their own voices.

- Bernard Koch