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Junius: The martydrom of a catastrophist
17/08/10 || The Duff
The SMN forumers unveil yet another gem with Junius, a band listed in the “beautiful albums” thread – post-rock meets vocals from The Cure was the descriptor, and considering my fanatical approach to advocating the love for bands like Isis, Neurosis and such, always on the lookout out for reprieve from death metal sprees, I orientated myself the other side of caution and chanced a purchase of the band’s soon to be released sophomore effort “The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist”. A title that creams the jeans if you’ve ever been a post-rock idolizer or simply all things pretentious as extra safe Durex condoms; don’t turn your noses up at the post-rock idiom, I can’t think of anything most associated with the music, so instead of bitching incessantly suggest an alternative you cry-baby cunts (wait… our faithful readership, whu-?).
Now, the music more than supports the lofty title, as it appears a concept album documenting the life of some philosopher/theorist (er… Junius?), with recited quotes or even direct recordings overlaid, and so pretension is not on the cards for this effort – it appears to lead from the early conception of the man’s theories to his being misunderstood, condemned, the love and loss in between and terminating with his demise and subsequent passage beyond the Pearly Gates. Ranging from sparse, ringing cleans, dense instrumental cacophonies to even the most distorted sections which, although very slight in number, remind me of Isis-style drone – not suffering from the hindrances of such a sub-genre but added as an atmospheric aperitif that lulls to draw out the more emotionally-tense sections – there’s no doubt the compositions are sentimentally evocative and dense.
As for the vocals, Robert Smith-inspired styles may to some become too obtrusive, but let me tell you they make the album – I can’t identify the vocalist because they don’t list him in the booklet, but his performance is crooning, heartfelt, passionate, with enough vulnerability and amateurish approach to make it all the more sincere; other songs boast the man’s creativity and degree of schooling, such as “Elisheva, I Love You”, where he never truly breaks free of his negligible ineptitude, but rather uses his weaknesses to boost his performance to the fullest so as to match those with more apparent experience. Lyrically, the album likewise takes a life of its own, the main drawback being the repetitiveness in such a domain which is easily forgivable considering the album’s nature; overall, there is a lot to connect with purely on the vocalist’s performance falling shy of emoting the turmoil of a catastrophist, but nonetheless I can’t help but smile at some of the lines written.
The musicianship is nothing to brag about, but the band have cut away any excess, not to the point where not a note is wasted, but where the album is left a fulfillingly exhilarating affair from start to finish, an effect enhanced by the very spry production. I can’t help but feel something very magical was in the works whilst viewing studio footage of the recording, and where 2010 (or late 2009) has certainly not been a good year for me and my hopes in the metal world, “The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist” has been an enormous success in one of the least likely of places. A band that embraces post-rock but doesn’t fully support it is something I shy away from, as there is a mainstream gearing to be found that often spells disaster in my books most commonly because they fail to pin the right vocals to the work; this album is about as absolute a package as they come, and probably one of the top five albums of the year all things remaining equal.
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Mylene Sheath Records
- Website: www.juniusmusic.com
- Band
- Dana Filloon: Not mentioned
- Joel Munguia: Not mentioned
- Joseph E. Martinez: Not mentioned
- Michael Repasch-Nieves: Not mentioned… pretentious cunts…
- Tracklist
- 01. Birth Rights by Torchlight
- 02. The Antediluvian Fire
- 03. (Turning to the Spirits of the Hours…)
- 04. A Dramatist Plays a Catastrophist
- 05. Ten Year Librarian
- 06. Stargazers and Gravediggers
- 07. (… He Fell Before Her)
- 08. Elisheva, I Love You
- 09. Letters From Saint Angelica
- 10. The Mourning Eulogy
