Closure In Moscow

First Temple

Written by: TL on 07/06/2009 13:55:04

In a trackless sea of recent mediocre releases, one album above all has been the flotsam to which I've clung to keep my head above water. Like a life belt sent from Equal Vision, Closure In Moscow and their debut album "First Temple" has been keeping my faith in music alive for some weeks time. While this band is simply one that exceeds others in a lot of areas, they primarily have one thing going for them that specifically makes them worthy of applause. Originality.

You see you can probably find several parts in several CiM songs that will remind you of various favourite bands of yours, but all in all, I bet you'll have a hard time fingering one band that really sounds like this. The best way to describe it is to say that, on one hand, this is a guitarist's showoff band as the songs on "First Temple" are mainly driven by a barrage of strange space/latin guitar lines that you won't have heard the likes of anywhere outside of The Mars Volta's albums. Also vocally these two bands are similar, as lead singer Chris DeCinque is probably the closest thing to a clone of Cedric Bixler-Zavala as we'll get without actually cloning him. And yet, CiM aren't really anything like The Mars Volta, mainly because their songs are much friendlier in structure than the endless experimentation of TMV. Instead, synth and piano sounds coat this music in a classy pop feeling, and when things are topped of with super-sexy, lazy backup vocals, shadowing the lead in all the right places, a delicious cocktail is masterfully completed.

For some examples on the excellence of this album I suggest you first check out "Sweet#hart", the intro riff of which is the kind of heavenly thing that will lodge itself in your memory for life. Accompanied by samba shakers, the twangy guitars almost sound middle eastern. Yet it still rocks and is absolute candy for the ears, I assure you. Next up on the list of "must hear's" is the following song "Vanguard" that starts of with The Fall Of Troy-ish shred-o-rama, only to have it's chorus spring into a gallop and for the first time of the album showcase just how good the backup vocals sound. This power-trio of tracks three, four and five is concluded by "A Night At The Spleen" which is easily the best song I've heard in over a month. The song starts out mellow and then quickly picks up a samba feel, only to suddenly turn into R'n'B entrancing you before exploding into a stellar solo.

By this point on the record, you really should be on board with this music, however there is of course a chance that you won't be, especially if you're the more conservative kind of rocker. Despite the kick ass guitars on this album, it's an album to make you dance and shake your hips rather than jump and bang your head, and if this is too female a concept for you to wrap your head around, then you probably won't agree with my praise. If that's the case, then I invite you to go and bore yourself to death with some Disturbed or something. Meanwhile I'll be shamelessly dancing and singing along to one of the very best records I've heard this year.

9

Download: Sweet#hart, Vanguard, A Night At The Spleen
For The Fans Of: Dance Gavin Dance, Pierce The Veil, The Mars Volta, Chiodos
Listen: myspace.com/closureinmoscow

Release Date 05.05.2009
Equal Vision Records

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