The Rock Blogger

The Pax Cecilia. Blessed are the Bonds . 2007. 4.5 stars .

An epic and emotional album that defies classification, Blessed are the Bonds reveals the potential and aspirations of a young and compelling band. Crafting a diverse and majestic sound, The Pax Cecilia borrow elements from neoclassical, emo, ambient and post-rock genres and spins them together in a surprisingly lucid package.

From the delicate piano arrangements of "The Tragedy", you can tell from the album’s start that The Pax Cecilia have an ear for melody, as the progressions carefully build into a satisfying crescendo, accompanied by intense, lovelorn vocals. "The Tomb Song" follows with even greater intensity, as the piano hammers alongside a mournful cello, as the sad vocals steadily climb with emotion. The use of classical instruments on these tracks are put front and center in the mix, making them sound full and lush, rather than gimmicky attatchments.

The album takes a much gritter turn with "The Progress" and "The Machine", as sludgy, guttural guitar riffs grind, sounding reminiscent of Isis’ wiry dynamics. The drumming also speeds along diligently, providing the driving momentum for the strings and atmospheric effects to play against. The marriage between classical and hardcore dynamics works stunningly well, as the narrator delivers his passionate laments. Later tracks like "The Wasteland" and "The Water Song" delve into sparser and more abstract territory, with soothing synth passages and slower tempos, softly recovering from the spiraling screamo assaults.

For The Pax Cecilia’s genre bending transitions and effective, emotional delivery, Blessed are the Bonds is easily one of the deepest and more original releases of the decade. The only thing keeping this release from being perfect is that it tends to drag on in its more experimental dirges, cooling the steady momentum the first half of the album so carefully builds. Despite these passable flaws, I recommend this album whole-heartedly, especially to fans of post-metal bands like Aereogramme, Isis and Maudlin of the Well. Best of all, you can download this album for free, directly from the Pax Cecilia website . Feel free to leave a small donation in return, if you wish.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.