OK, these guys show how it's done.
Illuminatus habe scored the prime contender for post-metal record of the year with
Glasnost, mainly because they go heavy on metal and easy on post-metal, but also because they're just more mature and skilled than most of their peers. This is riff-based music, with the guitars powerful enough to stop an elephant herd in its tracks, with the good, sweeping, midtempo rumbling of the
Isis school stretching across vast swathes of the soundscape. However, it is neither heavy for heaviness' sake nor ridden with pseudo-atmospheric interludes that, again, only
Isis can make worthy of
Pink Floyd, instead, it's melodic riffing that demands attention: think an
Iron Maiden who have finally overgrown Eddie and that wimpy distortion pedal, or the best of stoner rock, only twice as heavy. The quiet-loud dichotomy is there, but is used for buildups from verses to choruses, not to create plodding, nine-minute faux-epics; like good sex or a good fight, the tunes are just the right duration. The mood is intense throughout, but neither cheesy nor angsty as with many post-metal bands; if anything, it's fueled by anger, but channeled with the cold reserve of a fighter, not the disenchantment of a teenager on a moping binge. The simple, abstract lyrics help, and the vocals do even more. Julio Taylor's hoarse roar is among the best in business, powerful enough to match the guitars (that's saying something), full of fury, and yet always on the clean side -- no cheap growling here, even in the most intense moments. A couple of numbers near the end slip into overtly gloomy drama, but the closer wraps things up on the right note, hammering out a warning about "wolves at the door" with such conviction you just have to believe it. Fierce, melodic, moving, and heavy as sin,
Glasnost is some of the best metal songwriting money can buy in 2011. ~ Alexey Eremenko