Review by Jeffery McNulty
I’m a big fan of beyond genre bands. Atonement by A Province of Thay does hearken back to the quiet/ loud bands of yor (think Promise Ring or Engine Kid) but they add in a thick icy layer of post rock that blends well. It took me a while but I finally saw them a couple of weeks ago and it was a breath of fresh air. I was like, “I forgot heavy music could sound like this!” Maybe people call this Post-Metal but I remember when it was called Emo before long banged mall-rock guy-liner Screamo co-opted the term.
Whatever you want to categorize it as, this record is absolutely beautiful in sound and scope. (They had me at the unicorn skull on the cover!) The first song, “Atonement” is intense right off the line with piano and distorted guitar forming a wall of sound. Next, “Animus” keeps up the one-two punch but then we get a break with the quiet electric Rhodes piano introducing “Thaymount” which of course then becomes bombastic when the rest of the band joins in. The dueling vocals make it my favorite of the four but the appropriately titled “Dirgesinger” rounds the album out nicely, because that is indeed what these songs are, dirges.
This record would be an EP if their songs weren’t all almost eight minutes long. But the epic-ness carries through with out ever being boring. I’m bummed I slept so long on this excellent local band. I’m going to go back and pick up their 2013 record and see what I’ve been missing! I suggest you do the same.
https://aprovinceofthay.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AProvinceOfThay/
