ALBUM REVIEW: Mystic Sisters – City Of Caterpillar
CITY OF CATERPILLAR have been sure of a place in post-hardcore history for a full two decades now. Alongside Japan’s ENVY, the Virginians were among the very first to marry the patience and expanse of post-rock to the frantic urgency of screamo in a manner that many other great bands have sought to emulate since. Their self-titled debut full-length – until this week their only one – was groundbreaking enough that they could’ve gotten away without ever releasing another record, as indeed seemed to be the plan based on the 20 years of studio silence which followed. And yet, here we are with their second ever LP Mystic Sisters – the final domino to fall in a series set in motion by the band’s 2017 reunion shows.
As comebacks go, Mystic Sisters ticks both of the most essential boxes for a record like this. Firstly, it holds onto enough of the band’s original sound to pick up largely where they left off all those years ago, with bursts of frenetic screamo and angular post-hardcore scraping and screeching their way out of more atmospheric and occasionally quite melodic post-rock passages. Second, and perhaps even more crucially, the album doesn’t rely on past glories alone. It presents arguably a darker version of the band than that which we last heard of them, with what feels like more of an overt post-punk influence hammering home an expressed focus on mood. They’ve also reached quite justifiably for the production tool-up available to them in 2022, resulting in something that feels a little bigger and broader than its predecessor, while still holding onto much of the same intensity.
Perhaps true to the concoction at hand, Mystic Sisters often deals in striking paradox. Third track Decider’s opening guitar line walks the strangest line between dissonance and melody for example, while the ghostly opening to the title track which follows feels somehow widescreen and cinematic despite actually being quite sparse and delicate. This one grows into a nailed on highlight, taking its time to build to furious cacophony across seven minutes that provide one of the best snapshots of what CITY OF CATERPILLAR have to offer here. The record’s bookends stand out too; both longer than the title track, opener Thought Drunk sets a darkly hypnotic tone across eight and a bit minutes of noisy post-something, while Ascension Theft… (Gnawing Of The Bottom Feeders) ends the album in emotive triumph with sparkling synths, grand melodies and stirring vocal “woah”s.
There is always a danger with comeback records like this – particularly those where the gap has been so long – that a band may unnecessarily taint their legacy, even if that’s just by putting out something aggressively fine in comparison to the work of their original run. Not so here. We won’t jump the gun and say that Mystic Sisters is as important a record as CITY OF CATERPILLAR’s classic self-titled full-length, but it does add a stellar 45 minutes to their oeuvre while standing far enough apart from their previous fare to justify its existence. If this is your gateway to the band, great – go back and check out their early work and you won’t be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you’ve been waiting for this for 20 years, you’ll no doubt be very pleased to find the results as strong as they are here.
Rating: 8/10
Mystic Sisters is set for release on September 30th via Relapse Records.
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