September 22, 2013

A Storm Of Light - Nations To Flames


A Storm of Light is a band hailing from Brooklyn. I don’t know if they need any introduction, but here’s a short bio for all you noobies: A Storm of Light is a post everything band formed in 2007 by then guitarist for Red Sparrowes and visual artist for the mighty Neurosis, Josh Graham. They feature members of bands like Swans, Tombs, Unsane and Howl

So far they have released 3 LP’s and a bunch of splits, their sound could be described as post metal…and beyond, the first record was pretty much in the vein of Neurosis, but gradualy they seemed to started finding their own sound, the 2011 LP, As the Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade got them closer to that sound, it was a great record, much shorter songs, and much more aggressive, with awesome collaborations from Jarboe and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden.


Nation to Flames is their 4th record, and with this new material, they seem to finally found their thing, much more abrasive, much faster if I can say so, and really short songs, sometimes it seems like a hardcore record, and it’s no surprise Southern Lord is realeasing it.

The sound is similar to their past record, but much more dark and aggressive, with some songs that are faster than their usual stuff, songs like Disintegrate, have a really chaotic and fast beat that destroys everything around.

Beside the fast stuff, the record has a really haunting and claustrophobic atmosphere, it feels like you’re in the middle of a riot, and you’re getting smashed between pigs and protesters. I have to say that it fits perfectly with the whole situation that the world is going through right now.



The drums on this record are just amazing, they are sometimes really technical but without making the songs sound mathy and  incoherent, they actually help the song be really fluid. I love the use of toms for the beats, they just make everything sound huge and the tribal beats give the songs a certain atmosphere and make you feel overwhelmed by everything.

The guitar riffs are really different from their past stuff, they tend to be more in the vein of hardcore punk. Vocal wise the clean vocals used on the past LP’s seemed to be abandoned, and replace by screams. Sometimes Josh Graham’s vocals remind me of Lemmy, just that raspy bad ass voice.

With Nations To Flames, A Storm Of Light have reached a certain level that makes them one of the best post everything act that's still around from the first wave. Be sure to get yourself a copy from Southern Lord and jam this thing till your head explodes, and after that take to the streets and demolish all that stands in your way!


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