Earthside – Let The Truth Speak
Release Date: 17th November 2023
Label: Music Theories Recordings
Bandcamp
Genre: Cinematic Metal, Progressive Metal.
FFO: Tesseract, Leprous.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Before this, I had never heard of “cinematic rock” before. I initially thought it was going to be similar in style and production to symphonic prog metal. Having just reviewed MMTH’s newest release, I have been long in the mood for instrumental or progressive music that creates very dynamic atmospheres and takes the listener into a world of visualization through music. One of the important things to consider is whether there is going to be a legitimate use of the diverse musical elements, as compared to others’ failed-attempts at creating the same musical emotion across an album. I was intrigued as I began this foray, expecting to cringe at almost every turn. With all due respect to Earthside, I wanted, really wanted to be proven-wrong from the first track.
Fortunately, I think that I was in for a ride from the second I queued up the album. The first thing that I could attribute to the album is a huge sense of “fullness”, a giant sound that pervades the stereo track. The mix and master are truly excellent, giving a deeply-figured sound stage to every musical compartment in the song. I anticipated that I would be thinking of vast landscapes and “cinematic” tropes, given the description of the album by the band. I hadn’t expected to be listening to traditional heavy rock music, but with a cinematic twist. Call it a lack of imagination, perhaps?
The symphonic stabs and panda are a pleasure to listen to as they add dimension and depth to the heavy guitars that ring akin to bands like Leprous, which is something I absolutely love, especially given that Baard Kolstad of Leprous is featured on “All We Ever Knew and Ever Loved”. Fans of Periphery and Tesseract should also enjoy the album, as the dynamics that go between ambient and heavy never tend to stop their mutual orbit. Having access to the myriad amount of instruments, Earthside employs electronic synths as well as non-traditional instruments, such as mallets and chamber percussion. The level of the “bigness” that the album maintains at the crescendo of each song is just massive, and must be heard to really understand.
It only took three tracks for me to start thinking about how I was going to argue for a 5/5 review. I was that impressed from just the first few tracks, something that I usually wouldn’t put into a review. Nevertheless, I can at least tell you that this band is really onto something exciting; and ignoring them will be at your own peril. Missing-out on this level of depth and creativity in the Djenty-prog world is going to make fans of either genre very sad, something I can state with a fair bit of confidence.
The album is largely-structured as a “mixtape”, having almost all tracks feature a guest musician or vocalist. It’s extremely-varied as a project, which is absolutely something that keeps the listener engaged at all times. Some of the vocalists bring a unique style to each song, whether that’s a spoken-word segment, a harsh melodic breakdown, or a silky-smooth falsetto. The addition of each dynamic voice is tailored to each specific song, making the listener experience something engaging and custom-fitted for that artist’s style. That is something that a mixtape-type of album can bring to the genre in spades, and I’d never get sick of it. Heavy collab work is terrible for live touring, but wonderful for a prog album.
One of the things that stands out is the quality of the recordings, instruments, stereophonic experience, and what I like to think of as the “zone out” effect. Basically, is this something that will engage the brain while the listener just sits and relaxes? Does the listener need to be engaged? E.g. does he/she need to listen passively or actively to the music? Can it be both? I profess that Earthside gives listeners the best of both worlds. The stereo experience is displayed best on “Watching The Earth Sink”, as the percussion section is split beautifully between the left and right sides before the guitar and melody sections build in dramatic intensity.
Not short of earworms on every single track, Earthside has produced one of the most enjoyable albums of the entire year for me. I really, legitimately did not fail to absolutely enjoy a single song on Let The Truth Speak. The band stated in a press release that the making of the album was taxing on their relationships, both personally and professionally. I think that whatever effort was made to produce this album was well-worth the effort. If half the bands out there produced material like this, fans would never need to un-press the repeat button. If you’re looking for an act that will go perfectly with your TesseracT and Leprous playlists, this is not just it, but it might be the glue that holds them all together.
(5 / 5)
