Releases November 17th via Music Theories / Mascot Label Group
Experimental Progressive Metal thinkers, Earthside defied every boundary you could imagine within music with breakout release “A Dream In Static” in 2015 and highly acclaimed singles like “All We Ever Knew and Loved”. It is a record that fused philosophy, metaphysics, Prog, Ambient, and instrumentals into a long sonic journey and was highly well received by the Metal community. Anything new and profound, whether it be emotionally or mentally significant seems to hit the Metal community’s ears just right. “Let the Truth Speak” is another genre breaking mind bending record that I know will be another critically acclaimed hit. Was this record worth nearly breaking up the original base lineup? Earthside answered that question upon completing this hugely ambitious undertaking and finding themselves as inspired as 16 year olds finding their path for the first time.
Anytime an album is rooted in deep thinking, self reflection, or claims to be a mirror to the existential self, I am eager to delve into it. This is an album I didn’t expect to like, as I really didn’t know many of the guest musicians and I expected something quite self-important and pretentious. I thought it might be overtly composed and too chaotic, and it proved me wrong immediately. This album is a lot to take in, yes. It is as complex as you may expect, but not overwhelming. It is supremely balanced with ambience and detailed with melodic guitar parts and passionate rhythms and weird time signatures. It gives you breaks and room to sit in the feelings their trying to convey, before it mesmerizes you with technicality. You can tell it took a ton of mind power to craft this album, because there are so many bits and pieces that almost don’t fit together, but it works. “Who We Lament (featuring Keturah)” reminds me of Devin Townsend’s album Ki that featured Chee Aimee Dorval in the best way possible. It starts atmospheric and then absolutely explodes and the vocals reflect this inner heaviness of self loathing with a bit of a surprise fry vocal. “Tyranny (featuring Pritam Adhikary of Aarlon)” is a huge standout for me and is one of the heavier songs on the album with pounding technical rhythms and chesty voicing reminding me of the band Klone. “Pattern of Rebirth (featuring AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods)” is a great single track that brings a familiar more Metalcore sound, with some nicely melodic spoken word and long sung choruses.
This album seems darker and moodier than previous releases. There’s melancholy and even anger in instrumentals “Watching the Earth Sink” and “Vespers (feat. Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh & VikKe)”. This emotional arc seems to be fitting and reminds me of the heaviness of Russian Circles at times. The drums stand out instrumentally to me and really carry this album to be something special, besides all the unique guest vocalists. Ben Shabrom is a brilliant drummer, but there are parts on this album that exceed even his usual flair and heavy hitting. The addition of Baard Kolstad on “All We Ever Knew and Loved” is a smart decision as he is incomparable and the hardest hitting Prog drummer I have ever seen. Kolstad was possibly an influence throughout the album, because many parts mirror his bombastic crazy rhythms and airy cymbals. Overall, the diverse instrumentation is great and interesting throughout, but I find myself complaining what everyone complains about in Modern Music: It needs more bass. For the most part, Ryan Griffin is inaudible and under utilized. Without bass, the tone of the music is completely lost and always lacks dynamic range. The only song he shines on is the Jazzy-Djent breakdown “The Lesser Evil (feat. Larry Braggs & Sam Gendel)”, and while it is a brilliant Seal and Skinny Puppy crossover, it’s sad that’s the only time we get chunky and crazy bass lines.
This album is a lot and is certainly not accessible to the average listener, but Prog nearly never aims for accessibility, but emotional diction in technicality. Earthside have created something very complex, once again rising to their self proclaimed crazy ambitions. I like this album and a lot of tracks on it. It flows extremely well without getting repetitive or stale. It’s unlike anything I have ever heard, but definitely has familiar aspects the more diverse listener can appreciate it. I don’t know if I’ll ever listen to the album in full again, however. It seems to be one to appreciate a couple times, but doesn’t have anything that sticks with me. It’s a great album technically and has profound meaning, but it lacks a recurring theme or something to keep me engaged.
Lyrically, I found it boring and without distinctive messages to pull from so it stays in your head. It just leaves you once you’re done listening. Maybe, that’s the point. Maybe it’s about enjoying the moments while you have them and then moving on from the past. Either way, it is worth a listen and maybe true Earthside fans will consider it a classic. I don’t necessarily love it, but I understand and appreciate what they were trying to do with “Let the Truth Speak”. I like it, but I expect way more content with the next release and an arcing theme that resonates longer than a play through.
Rating: 6/10
Metal Valkyrie 