Gospel
The Moon Is a Dead World

There are records that filter the gaze, causing it to linger precariously over a chasm filled with nothing but solid darkness. Dark and stealthy records that indulge in acrobatics on the edge of that abyss, under astonished, captivated gazes, as if they didn't care that the end, for everyone, is inevitable. And then, there are records that are a leap with eyes closed into that chasm, that don't even pass by the edge, straight down, without giving the word "boundary" a second thought.

"The Moon Is A Dead World". 2005. Or how far can Post-Hardcore (But also without Post, but also without Hardcore) or however you want to call it can go.

And it's no coincidence that the first track is titled "Congratulations...You've Hit the Bottom". You dive so deep that you resurface in the upper layers of the atmosphere, finding yourself in a bubble, in a limbo without a spatial or temporal location. Strangeness and enlightenment strike at the same moment, in the same place.

And the Post-Hardcore that isn't Post, there aren't crescendos, at least not those kinds, there are atmospheres of apnea, enveloping and Psych, there are virtuosity, technicalities, a crazy rhythm section realized through truly stunning drumming. It's not Screamo simply contaminated and it's not even something else contaminated, maybe it's not even a fusion of worlds, it's a point of arrival. This is Progressive.

I repeat

Progressive. Call it Screamo Prog, Prog Hardcore or whatever you want, but here you are facing the dark side of King Crimson from "Red", who were already the dark side of themselves, but also the dark side of the early Pink Floyd, who here are back pissed off like wolves. All even with a pure 70s organ, dizzying technique, riffs skewed as if it rains. But also anger, post-apocalyptic and decadent imagery, explosive mood. Bands like City Of Caterpillar and Funeral Diner are still related. Each track is like a chain reaction, like a domino where the tiles are getting bigger but can't stop falling. Examples are "Goden Dawn", "What Means of Witchery", "Yr Electric Surge is Sweet", 3 psychoactive tracks but dominated by a visceral and instinctive urgency with shouted and extreme lyricism:

"so let's hold this close
and we'll fall back to what's ours
i've got enough pills
to last us both a couple of hours
and we'll count our stars it won't come too soon.