Night Verses

Artist: 
Album Title: 
Lift Your Existence
Release Date: 
Monday, July 22, 2013
Label: 
Distribution: 
Review Type: 

The history of the band Night Verses is a very short one. Early last year former The Sleeping singer Douglas Robinson attended a local charity show that was being put up by a close friend of his in Los Angeles (California), and one of the bands playing there was Fullerton (New York) based Post Rock act Archives. Robinson was so impressed with the band, that he approached the members (guitarist Nick DePirro, bassist Reilly Herrera, and drummer Aric Improta) immediately after the show, and told 'em he was interested in joining them as their lead singer. His enthusiasm infected the others, and this lead to an impromptu practice session that same night...a practice which felt so good that the decision for Robinson's addition was made there and then!

The band immediately started work on a foursome of songs, and soon enough recorded those with producer Kris Crummett at Interlaced Audio in Portland, Oregon, for an EP entitled Out Of The Sky, which was self-released on May 25, 2012 through the band's own website (www.) nightverses.com (which at the moment of my checking was nothing but a black page with the band's logo on) as a free download for the rest of the year. The critically well-received EP went on to win “EP Of the Year” on Punktastic's reader awards (showing music fans' appreciation). Straight after the release, the band headed out on a headlining tour of the UK (with Flood Of Red as their main support), and played at the main stage of the Hevy Fest 2012, but all that time the guys were already writing new material for this, their debut full-length. The writing sessions in fact had been só prolific, that during a late 2012 interview the band stated that they'd written some 50 songs, and were narrowing the material down to the very best, before starting recordings in January of 2013 (again at Interlaced Audio, and again with Crummett as producer).

And, good heavens, the guys sure know how to pick 'em! You'll get no less than 15 songs (with the closing track “Phoenix” a two-part one...with double length, of course) with a total length of 74 minutes, and you'll not find one lesser than the other! On the one side, you still get Architects' very nice basis of very technical but catchy Post Rock/ Math Rock, and on the other side you get some truly fantastic harmonic vocal collaboration (which brings something of a Post-EmoCore/ScreamoCore feel to the material) between Robinson and at least one of the other guys in the band, making for an incredibly attractive and at times bombastic (which is a good thing in this case, you know!) whole. Of course, it's very possible that on the album Robinson did all vocals himself, but I sure hope that in live conditions one of the other guys indeed helps the lead singer to obtain a semblance of what was put together in the studio! Those among you who still attend shows (something which I have left behind me in the latter couple of years...in main part due to lacking free time – besides providing this website with frequent reviews, I am also an amateur paleaontologist doing quite some field research!) can go and find out for yourselves, as the band is coming over to Europe from mid-September to mid-October to tour (with Letlive as main support), and playing at Antwerp's Trix on Sept. 19!

Upon release (in the US the album was already issued through Easy Killer Records on June 25) the album garnered quite some raving reviews, both in the US as elsewhere, and got considered as an early Album Of The Year contender by numerous websites and magazines, and that is actually an opinion/position in which I shall join the majority. To know what all the fuss is about, check out the full-length songs posted at (www.) facebook.com/NightVerses, or check the samples of all songs at the album's page at Amazon.com!

98/100