In the last 4-5 years and particularly after Isis released their massive Oceanic album, this whole post metal scene has been flooded. There are a million bands that sound like Isis, Cult of Luna or the godfathers of this scene, Neurosis. It’s become increasingly difficult to sort the worthwhile stuff from the run of the mill rip-off band. This genre’s become a bit tiresome to sit through especially when no young band in the scene can even come close to Given to the Rising or In the Absence of Truth.

Mouth of the Architect is the exception. A band that’s not doing anything too new but is doing the whole sound in a manner that’s quite captivating. The band first came to our attention last year here in the land of the kvlt with their previous two albums Time and Withering (2004 debut) and The Ties That Bind (2006). Both those albums impressed and the band was definitely one to watch out for.

2008 sees the band release its third full length Quietly and business has picked up. The album starts with the title song and it’s a decent introduction to the band but there’s not a lot that’s new. The song is similar in tone and atmosphere to anything Isis did on Oceanic and Panopticon. The surprise though is in the second song. It starts with a film sample from Sidney Lumet’s Network and then goes off into gentle waves of guitar lines that slowly but surely build on the atmosphere. The guitars weave in and out and at times through this song there’s a Pelican with vocals feel which is only a good thing. Guilt and the Like starts off sounding like Statherian from The Ocean’s Precambrian opus with that same haunting melody and ebb and flow from heavy as fuck to calm and meditative. While The Ocean comparison gets a bit uncomfortable on this song, it still works and is one of the highlights of the album.

Other stand out tracks include the moody Generation of Ghosts with its drone like beginning and female vocals counter-playing very nicely with the dirty, big man bawling vocal style of the band. Rocking Chairs and Shotguns has a completely awesome buildup and is one of the calmer songs on the album and also one of the best while A Beautiful Corpse closes the album out in a massive wall of noise with its lurching riffs and quite tortured sounding vocals.

Quietly is a pretty good album in a scene that’s all ready saturated with bands that just want to sound exactly like Isis and Neurosis. Yes, the Isis comparison still exists to a large extent but there’s enough of a sense of identity here and enough originality in these songs to ensure that Mouth of the Architect is still a bit better than most of their peers. Most importantly, there’s a fair bit of progression from The Ties That Bind. Quietly is an album that’s worth checking out.

Label - Translation Loss
Year - 2008