Wednesday 10 December 2014

MAGI - Forget Me Not (Album Review)


Album Type: Album
Date Released: 26th January 2015
Label: Argonauta Records
Forget Me Not – Track Listing

1. The Silence We Display
2. Mystic
3. Stories
4. A Million Questions
5. In Amity
6. Footsteps
7. Sleep

Bio

Doom/Noise/Doom metal/Avant-Garde/ambient band formed in 2011. Featuring members of From Oceans To Autumn and Mountains Among Us.

Members

Brandon - guitars, vocals, programming
McCllelan - bass
Helms - drums

Review:

MAGI's debut album - Forget Me Not - is a complex sounding album that is a very hard album to review. Not that it's a bad album, far from it. It's an excellent debut album from MAGI. It's what to classify MAGI as. Their music ventures from Doom, Post-Rock, Post-Metal, Drone and Sludge for one almost violent out of body experience. MAGI originally started off as a solo project from Brandon Adams of From Oceans To Autumn and Mountains Among Us Fame. MAGI will appeal to fans of Jesu, Neurosis, Isis (The Band) and YOB. Opening track - The Silence We Display - is an emotionally wrought and challenging listen as voices collide with dark nightmarish ambient tones. MAGI don't shy away from playing haunting sounds and noises through out the albums 50 minute run time. MAGI open your mind to new possibilities within the Sludge/Post-Metal world.

You may think you have heard this type of music before. Let me tell you to look further as MAGI offer a refreshing take on the Sludge/Drone/Post-Metal world. Every musical note and vocal arrangement has perfectly been put together. It gives the album a more refined feel to other debut albums within the genre. Second track - Mystic - is a more straight forward affair with the right balance of heavy post-metal/sludge/drone carnage against the more slower and melodic ambient post-rock vibes. Though the vocals stay on the heavier side, with the death based growls adding a more doom and gloom atmosphere.

Third track - Stories - sees MAGI in more reflective mood as the album moves from aggression to almost blissful Post-Rock sounds with soothing and heartfelt vocals to match. MAGI return to their heavy sludge/post-metal roots on the next track - A Million Questions - that is one of loudest songs on the album. MAGI are relentless on this song as they unleash another heavy violent affair for you to survive from. The instrumental work is stunning as MAGI let fly with impressive prog technical sludge riffs matched superbly well with the ambient noises and sounds once again. The vocals have a Jekyll/Hyde effect where the clean based growls gives way to the more unstoppable death based growls. Its' where MAGI start forging their ideas and impressing the listener even more as a result.

'The mood becomes ever more darker on the last few songs as MAGI pull no punches by creating a more twisted and darker atmosphere to build their music upon. In Amity - carries a chilling atmosphere where the band mixes nightmarish drone overtones with slow-paced post-metal sounds for one unsettling part of the album. MAGI start to experiment more with their sound as the vocals disappear into the background and you're left questioning where this album will take you next.

Well for the last two songs, Footsteps and Sleep - MAGI leave the best two tracks for last. 18 minutes of finely played down-tempo Doom/Sludge/Post-Metal with creepier vocals and ambient sounds leaving you in a cold, confused state. MAGI don't exactly play at a fast pace on the album. In addition, it's a brave decision as it gives you more time to fully experience the album. It's a complex affair that will take a few listens to fully understand what MAGI are all about. I still don't know, as this has been a very hard album for me to review. It has frustrated me at times, where I wanted to give up on reviewing it.

MAGI offer no easy answers just a thought provoking and challenging listen that will see them go far within the Sludge/Post-Metal scene. The album is expertly produced from start to finish. It's loud and clear from the start. Forget Me Not is an album with style, substance and most of all - intelligence. Kudos to Argonauta Records for signing another great act to their roster.

Words By Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency and Argonauta Records for the promo. Forget Me Not will be available to buy on CD/DD via Argonauta Records from Jan 26th 2015.

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