The Lion’s Daughter-Indian Blanket
A Black Sea
Good Die Young Music
2013
Lion’s Daughter state that they first started playing “out of a hatred for the insincere and uninspired cookie-cutter fodder the mainstream metal scene has become”. Their sound in all their previous albums is a combination of doom, black and death metal. For their new attempt however, they’ve teamed up with folk ensemble and fellow St. Louis occupants, Indian Blanket. The plan at first was for them to collaborate for just one song; instead, it seems they got along so well they recorded a whole record together. The result was “A Black Sea” which moves somewhere between sludge metal and indie rock. Not an easy genre to pull off, by any standard. However, these 8 experienced musicians did alright in my book.
The record begins with “Wolves” which is perhaps the best track in there. It starts out quietly with just a couple of strings accompanying the softly sang lyrics. I have to admit that the first few minutes reminded me more of alternative/indie rock song rather than a metal one. Somewhere around the second minute though, the doom powerful guitars of Lion’s Daughter come into the mix and things get a lot darker yet even more interesting. Spirits remain high with “First First” the second song of the album. It’s the perfect and continuous combination of doom, brit-pop, darkwave, sludge metal and indie rock that makes the beginning of “A Black Sea” really stand out from the rest of similar albums out there. At the same time however, this practically perfect combination of those seemingly un-combinable genres is both a blessing and a curse. “Swann” is the record’s third track; it’s a straightforward sludge metal track with loud, buzzing and noisy main guitar riffs, dark doom choruses and killer brutal vocals. The only problem is that after the “genre-bending” first two tracks, a straightforward sludge song (however great it may be) just doesn’t seem enough. Personally, I found myself expecting the band to mix things up and I got disappointed when they didn’t.
Moving on to “Song For the Devil”, we have a finely tuned dark ballad that resembles the sound of bands like the Doves or Elbow. It’s a surprisingly good melancholic song which manages to drop down a few gears whilst remaining true to the spirit of the album. “Timeless Waters”, the fifth track, is an instrumental jam that captures the essence of the collaboration of these two seemingly totally different bands. Acoustic and electric guitars intertwine with a tight sting section and a dark, steady and yet groovy rhythm section. Right after that it’s time for some doom/sludge metal again; “Sea of Trees” is a four-and-a-half-minute musical assault that takes the listener by storm from the first second.
And this is the point that the record ends for me. The last two songs could easily have been cut from the release, once they don’t add anything more to the album apart from running time. The second to last track is called “That Place” and, in my opinion, it is a bit too long. I mean it’s 7:16 minutes long and although it starts out quite nicely, its slow jam intro drags on steadily and unsurprisingly for 4,5 of those minutes. The middle part (after the drums enter into the equation that is) is an explosive breath of fresh air, as it’s pretty tight and enjoyable, but by then I think it’s too late. As for “Moonshiner”, which I guess was supposed to serve as a quiet outro to the album, I would describe it as long-ass, yawn-fest, lacking emotion and any sort of backbone.
All in all, “A Black Sea” is a really interesting record. Sure, it has its shortcomings, but that’s to be expected in such an experimental album. What’s really impressive is that it doesn’t matter what kind of rock or metal music you like, Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket have managed to provide something that will please almost everyone.
The record begins with “Wolves” which is perhaps the best track in there. It starts out quietly with just a couple of strings accompanying the softly sang lyrics. I have to admit that the first few minutes reminded me more of alternative/indie rock song rather than a metal one. Somewhere around the second minute though, the doom powerful guitars of Lion’s Daughter come into the mix and things get a lot darker yet even more interesting. Spirits remain high with “First First” the second song of the album. It’s the perfect and continuous combination of doom, brit-pop, darkwave, sludge metal and indie rock that makes the beginning of “A Black Sea” really stand out from the rest of similar albums out there. At the same time however, this practically perfect combination of those seemingly un-combinable genres is both a blessing and a curse. “Swann” is the record’s third track; it’s a straightforward sludge metal track with loud, buzzing and noisy main guitar riffs, dark doom choruses and killer brutal vocals. The only problem is that after the “genre-bending” first two tracks, a straightforward sludge song (however great it may be) just doesn’t seem enough. Personally, I found myself expecting the band to mix things up and I got disappointed when they didn’t.
Moving on to “Song For the Devil”, we have a finely tuned dark ballad that resembles the sound of bands like the Doves or Elbow. It’s a surprisingly good melancholic song which manages to drop down a few gears whilst remaining true to the spirit of the album. “Timeless Waters”, the fifth track, is an instrumental jam that captures the essence of the collaboration of these two seemingly totally different bands. Acoustic and electric guitars intertwine with a tight sting section and a dark, steady and yet groovy rhythm section. Right after that it’s time for some doom/sludge metal again; “Sea of Trees” is a four-and-a-half-minute musical assault that takes the listener by storm from the first second.
And this is the point that the record ends for me. The last two songs could easily have been cut from the release, once they don’t add anything more to the album apart from running time. The second to last track is called “That Place” and, in my opinion, it is a bit too long. I mean it’s 7:16 minutes long and although it starts out quite nicely, its slow jam intro drags on steadily and unsurprisingly for 4,5 of those minutes. The middle part (after the drums enter into the equation that is) is an explosive breath of fresh air, as it’s pretty tight and enjoyable, but by then I think it’s too late. As for “Moonshiner”, which I guess was supposed to serve as a quiet outro to the album, I would describe it as long-ass, yawn-fest, lacking emotion and any sort of backbone.
All in all, “A Black Sea” is a really interesting record. Sure, it has its shortcomings, but that’s to be expected in such an experimental album. What’s really impressive is that it doesn’t matter what kind of rock or metal music you like, Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket have managed to provide something that will please almost everyone.