ALBUM REVIEW: We All know – Talons
Post rock can be an encompassing experience or it can drag like being to attached to a Grand National winner. Celebrating their decade as a band, British six piece TALONS prove on their newest release We All Know why this is such a delicate tightrope to walk.
When it’s good it’s really good, but when it’s bad it is quite the meandering slog. Borrowing from the floaty yet sombre vibe of the likes of GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, TALONS seem to wait for extended periods building to a crescendo that rather than not arriving simply builds into a separate build.
When the song finally breaks though it’s well worth the wait, the guitar tone is thunderous and could equally fit on a CHELSEA WOLFE album. The main problem is that when it finally gives you a pay off it is quickly dissipated and moves effortlessly into the next prolonged violin build. The builds, though overly long, do have some merit. There is a great sense of atmosphere with the violins playing off the spacey other worldly guitars create a great sense of desperation, with an eerie undertow that can best be described as dread.
The album is nine tracks long but rather than being nine songs long these tracks interweave between one another seamlessly. This is certainly not an album for anyone who subscribes to the notion of “don’t bore us, get to the chorus” whilst it weaves through several moods from frenetic violins that are reminiscent of Shinsuke Nakamura’s WWE theme to someone falling asleep on the ambient dread button.
Even though there is less than you would hope for when the heaviness arrives, it is well of a high standard. The crunch is more reminiscent of artists like CHELSEA WOLFE rather than the traditional post rock stalwarts of ISIS or NEUROSIS. Through its blissful interludes and floaty ethereal passages you can’t help but wish for some more crunch. No more is this evident that on the album’s would be crescendo Quiet. While most post rock/metal albums build and build until their fit to burst only to go full supernova at its climax, We All Know seems to just stumble to a conclusion. The track meanders around a slightly techy TOOL riff and sadly goes nowhere. Instead of ending on a triumphant note the album ends on a track sounding like if KARNIVOOL had hired the London Philharmonic Orchestra ala CYPRESS HILL in The Simpsons.
In conclusion, We All Know is a frustrating listen. It gets most of its hits in the right place but just not as much as you would hope for. The ambience is there, the sense of mournful sorrow is plenty with a stunning performance by the violins and when it brings the weight it is fantastic. But there just isn’t enough bottom end crunch to the record, which leaves you lacking.
Rating: 6/10
We All Know is set for release on July 27th via Holy Roar Records.
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