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Exploratory New Jersey-born prog-metal peddlers EAST OF THE WALL are preparing to drop their third full-length slab of methodologically unique output, The Apologist, this Autumn. Longtime followers of this act, and the numerous related current or previous acts leading up to this recording — including but definitely not limited to The Postman Syndrome, Day Without Dawn, El Drugstore, Argonauts — have been awaiting this release for some time.
The piercing feedback leads into an elephant-sized sludge metal riff on the album’s opener, “Naif”. One might hypothesize (as I did) that the rest of the track will be a sludgy beast. Well shame on you and me! “Naif” soon undergoes a drastic stylistic change that will leave the listener wondering what had just happened. From Sludge, to post-rock, back to sludge, than to an almost alternative/progressive rock feel to the end. Adding huge contrasting sections to a single song is East of the Wall’s specialty (“False Build” is a perfect example of this). “Naif” flawlessly flows into “Linear Failure” which features one of the most gorgeous, jazz oriented guitar sections I have ever heard. You just have to hear it to believe it. But that is just one section of the song because once again, the band surprises you with flawlessly switching to a completely different section without sounding forced. One might criticize it for sounding “random”, but this is not the case. These shape-shifting entities called “East of the Wall songs” sound completely organic and are performed with such virtuosic skill that is makes the whole song flow very well.
-- Review of their new album by
American Aftermath
