UMUR
With Echoes in the Movement of Stone is the 3rd full-length studio album by American post metal/ psychadelic sludge act Minsk. After listening to the band´s 2nd full-length studio album The Ritual Fires of Abandonment (2007) I was instantly hooked to Minsk´s music. So my expectations for this release have been sky high. With Echoes in the Movement of Stone is the band´s second release on Relapse Records.
...and boy do they deliver. The music on With Echoes in the Movement of Stone is a mix of heavy post metal with tribal like drumming and psychadelic sludge. The vocals are raw at times but they are actually mostly clean, varying between a sedated psychadelic style and a more powerful shouting style. Lead vocalist Tim Mead is a really strong vocalist IMO. He also adds some synth and organ to some tracks on the album which is very effectful and atmospheric. The rest of the band are also very adventurous and well playing. Adventurous is actually just the right word when describing the music on this album. I really enjoy the mix between the stoned, psychadelic parts and the heavy post metal parts. Just take a listen to a songs like The Shore of Transcendence, Requiem: From Substance to Silence and Almitra's Premonition. Even though those songs last for about 10 minutes there´s not a dull moment in sight. The songs shift direction a couple of times during the playing time which means that I´m never bored.
The production is a bit thin and I could have wished for more bottom end, but it´s still quite enjoyable.
With Echoes in the Movement of Stone is an excellent release by Minsk and this album ensures that they´ve become one of my favorite post metal/ sludge metal acts in the last couple of years. They´ve grown into their own over the course of their 3 studio albums and I think they have a distinct and quite unique style now. The will to experiment is still very much alive in this band and as it is one of my primary value parameters when I review albums, Minsk rate very high on that scale. With Echoes in the Movement of Stone fully deserves a 4 star rating. I hope they get the success they deserve.