"An Ache For The Distance" by THE ATLAS MOTH

Having read many dythirambic reviews about this album, I must admit that at the first listening this second effort (the first on Profound Lore rds) disappointed me a bit but I thought  it was the kind of stuff that is so rich that it needs time to be fully enjoyed in all aspects. 

It's partly true but partly not...Starting by the production which in my opinion is too massive and modern for this kind of music. In fact what surprise me is to read here and there that this band is sludge or/and tends seriously on Black Sabbath riffing with also many blues overtones, that this is the album of the year...

Oh well, maybe I'd better wash my ears full of 3 kilos of shit each, cause this is for me "just" atmospheric dark metal, pretty much influenced by european bands from the mid 90's, english and dutch for the music + clean vocals and scandinavian for the blackened vocals + some (rare) ripping riffs. 

THE ATLAS MOTH is good in catchy atmospheric mid-tempos with screamed blackened and clean vocals shared, hauting and melodic riffing with frequent keyboards, Everything is well-arranged, with good moments like solos sounding pretty psychedelic which could give a little stoner feeling, then a nice eastern touch sometimes pointing too and it can be another pagan touch the song after ... Interesting but not so original for their metal aspects (which are most essential in their sound)... If you take apart the (dispensable) gothic-ballad "the courage", I think there's  a little lack of variety, the musical basis tend to sound a bit lall the same,  except with  the last song "horse thieves" which shows a wider variety of sounds, this is certainly not a coincidence if this one is the doomiest of all the album and the best one !!! there's a grasping atmosphere  here which is good and I think they should explore more these kind of landscapes (and leave a bit the too classical dark metal edge) to find definitely their own identity in the future.

This is good stuff, I like it but for me this doesn't deserve more highlights than many others and it certainly won't figure in my musical top 10 list of the year (just the cover and general artwork could be ;) ...).