ALBUM REVIEW: Let The Truth Speak – Earthside

It’s taken eight years for EARTHSIDE to finally release their sophomore album, after 2015’s A Dream In Static – a very long time, unless you’re a TOOL fan. With only one song coming in under the four-and-a-half-minute mark and some going as long as almost 12 minutes, it’s clear before even the first listen that this might be a more challenging release than many of its contemporaries this year. It’s also chock full of guests, ranging from Daniel Tompkins of TESSERACT fame, through Canadian artiste KETURAH providing absolutely huge, soaring vocals through so much of the album. When you start your first listen, though, is when the real wonder hits you square in the face.

From the off, the sound is absolutely immense. Loud, orchestral, multi-layered and faceted, there is so much going on, even in their more delicate moments. There is a progressive heaviness to the sound without it ever becoming excessive that would make even the likes of prog metal supergroup SONS OF APOLLO stand up and take notice, even with their lofty skillset, and it is of true testament to the sheer level of writing throughout this album. Every part, through mixing and mastering just sounds echelons above so many other records of this nature of recent times, despite the glut of releases that COVID almost inevitably sprang up, while the band themselves have crafted something that both could and should genuinely stand the test of time, with their highly impressive and enthralling musicianship. It even surpasses later releases from the likes of LEPROUS with a fair amount of ease, which is a feat in itself.

Whether it’s instrumental album opener But What If We’re Wrong, We Who Lament, the following track, or the likes of The Lesser Evil – which matches the likes of SLEEP TOKEN‘s latest and more, there is just an absolute sumptuousness to the entire project. Any song from the album could easily be put as a ‘try this to appreciate it’, even bearing in mind there are no obvious or cliched hooks used to ensnare your attention. The release has a lot of variation in the approach, providing bits of delight for listeners and appreciators of different parts, both of the genre and beyond, yet still feels easily like a cohesive whole despite all of this.

It all boils down to this: while it may have taken EARTHSIDE what some might see as an excessive amount of time to create and perfect this sublime body of work, the work they have done somehow justifies the almost decade required. It surpasses every record released this year and beyond, to the point of actually being quite perfect in its own right – there is just nothing that springs to mind for how or what you could add to it to improve it. It is an absolutely perfect album that anyone into progressive metal simply must add to their listening habits and collection.

Rating: 10/10

Let The Truth Speak is out now via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group.

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