Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 05/28/2002
This eagerly awaited (at least in underground
rock circles) debut marks the return of drummer
Chris Hakius and guitarist/vocalist
Justin Marler of
doom metal legends
Sleep fame. But fans expecting a
Sleep-like barrage of unholy grinds and mind-numbing
doom metal should look elsewhere (possibly to the also
Sleep-derived
High on Fire), since
the Sabians'
Beauty for Ashes is an entirely different animal. Indeed, despite being produced by another
sludge metal legend in former
Fudge Tunnel leader
Alex Newport, the album is a highly melodic affair, presenting atmospheric
hard rock alternating tasteful harmonics with brooding soft/hard dynamics. The opener,
"Via Dolorosa," weaves sheets of melancholy guitar textures balanced somewhere between melodic flow and metallic power -- evoking bands like
King's X and
Soundgarden, while sounding exactly like neither. Song two,
"Breathe," on the other hand, isn't nearly as subtle. With its two-part riff (the first resembling a nervous exhalation; the second a sharp gasp of fear), the track is a slow-burning behemoth of pent-up tension, teasing and tormenting the listener with the promise of a release that never comes. The ensuing material can't compare to it in terms of evoking sheer rapture, but continues to impress nonetheless with its overall complexity and diversity. The spidery-riffed
"Black Lie" achieves another distinctive high point before giving way to a series of more laid-back, almost
folk-oriented songs, culminating in the plaintive acoustic strumming on the rain-swept
"Lull." The dreary, ten-minute downpour which follows belies the band's far-from-morose outlook (but still sounds pretty cool) and, all in all,
the Sabians' beautifully layered
trance riffs show incredible promise of things to come.
~Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide
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