| CD REVIEW Ligeia |
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Band : Ligeia As mentioned in the label biography accompanying this album, Ligeia is a short story written by America's first detective and horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1938 at the beginniing of the author's career. But I've found other uses for the name, as Ligeia was apparently also the name of a siren (the one with the shrill voice) in laterday Greek mythology. In more recent times the name has been used by a couple of music groups: a Death Metal/ Grindcore/ Thrash act from Idaho (USA), a Fusion band from Mexico, and an acoustic band from the neighborhood of Barcelona (Spain)...but eventually it is also the name of a Massachussets based EmoCore/ metalCore band which came into existence in 2003. Present at the time of formation were mainstays Keith Holuk (vocals) and Ryan Ober (guitar), plus guitarist Chris Keane, bassist Matthew Bannett (left to join The Network), and drummer Phil Fonseca. It's in this line-up that recordings, by and under productional guidance of Unearth's Ken Susi, of what was to be the band's debut album Your Ghost Is A Gift were done in December 2004. I've no idea of when Keane left, and both the bass (which has since been handled, not necessarily in the given order, by Bryan Forbes and Jeanne Sagan – the latter currently playing with All That Remains) and drum positions prooved to be unstable as well (the drums, again not necessarily in correct order, also bashed by Jake Lawrence and Bryan Forbes), before some kind of stabilization came in 2007 with the addition of bassist Brandon Whipple and drummer Patrick Murphy to the line-up. Some of the line-up tribulations certainly had to do with the fact that somewhere in late 2005 (or at least that's my best guess) Ligeia signed to Ferret Music for the March 2006 release of their debut album, and signing to the label apparently allowed the band to go into a blazing live schedule: US tours with Time Of Cholera and Century in January 2006, with August Burns Red and Ion Dissonance in February, with August Burns Red, Demiricous, and Ringworm in March (with the album release late that same month), with Ed Gein and From A Second Storey Window in April, with Misery Signals, Scarlet and Since By Man in June, with Ed Gein and Remembering Never in July, when also started a tour with Heavy Heavy Low Low and Stand Before The Firing Squad. Possibly there were already some line-up problems in May (no concerts done, see?), and now it would take the guys untill December to hit the stages again, this time in Europe to play shows in Belgium and Holland before a UK tour supported by Penknifelovelife. I know the guys hooked up with Apiary, Burn In Silence and The Handshake Murders for the US Two Dollar Brawl tour during February and March 2007, but after this the info becomes uncertain (might be they did some additional stints with The Acacia Strain and Haste The Day, but I'm uncertain whether that was in Europe or in the US). What I àm sure of though, is that when the quartet again joined Ken Sisi in the studio during December 2007 and January 2008, they did so with new drummer Nick Neumeister...who's since been replaced again by original drummer Phil Fonseca. So, time to talk about the 11 tracks on the band's 29-minute album. The guys earn their "MetalCore" labeling by using a down-tuned guitar, but the undercurrent is definitely Emo/ ScreamoCore for the most part (the song "Heroin Diaries" sees the singer in a completely sedate and melancholic mode for an acoustic ballad in which the guitar is the only instrument). I have to say I wasn't exactly enthoused at the first listening session, but then the album definitely needs and tends to grow on one...for as much as one is interested in the rather honestly recorded one-guitar tunes (no overdubs, or certainly a minimum). Which doesn't go to say the songs are simple, and the guitarist indeed does a good job...but perhaps we're being overly pampered in these days of multi-layered recording possibilities? Anyways, you'll find that you can listen to almost the complete album when browsing on the Internet: there is, of course, myspace.com/ligeia (never forget the band's own page, eh?) where 4 songs off the old album are posted alongside 2 off the new one...but you can find 4 more songs off the new album at myspace.com/981237456, two more (alongside 4 others you've already come across with) at myspace.com/ligeia86, and a last one at myspace.com/ligeiacuntshitdick, which makes for 9 of the 11 songs...how about that? Check it out, and if you like...the better. Personally, even if I can appreciate for a while and definitely have respect for the trouble the guys put into the compositions, I'm not running too hot for this release. May have something to do with the singer, or perhaps it's because of the guitar sound? I don't know, but there you are, and the rating is more a reflection of my objectivity about the band's writing and playing abilities than my specific like or dislike of the subject matter! 84/100 Tony. |