Scale The Summit
The Migration

The music of Scale the Summit, a Texan instrumental metal band, can be described as anything but impersonal. It is indeed post-metal, a sort of metal reinterpretation of the most "lovely" post-rock experiences (not exactly my cup of tea), such as those of Explosions in the Sky, God is an Astronaut, and maybe Sigur Rós. However, the term post-metal might be misleading here because you won't find any sludge guitars even remotely close; instead, there's a good dose of technique, within bearable limits, of course, and riffs with a progressive metal flavor. In essence, forget about Isis; the music of Scale the Summit is more akin to classic post-rock with metal inserts.

The Migration, the fourth album by the quartet, picks up exactly the same materials as the previous The Collective; there is no substantial evolution between the two. However, for better or worse, there is a maturing in their approach, which is reflected, in my opinion, especially in the band's attempt to break away from the "block" structure (i.e., juxtaposing one riff to another and placing guitar solos over the riffs) that often characterized the songs of the previous album and while greatly facilitating the composition, sometimes rendered them quite heavy and monotonous. In any case, if you've listened to the previous work, the contents of this one shouldn't surprise you. It features almost pure post-rock segments and more energetic moments where Chris Letchford, one of the brightest virtuosos in today's metal scene, often showcases first-rate guitar technique, which almost never devolves into mere exhibition and is generally kept in service of the music. Credit is also due to bassist Mark Michell (the replacement for Jordan Eberhardt, who was present in the previous discography entries) who generally manages to weave in high-value bass lines (that are also well-highlighted thanks to the mixing, which, in my opinion, deserves another mention).

Having said that, if one assumes that The Migration and The Collective could easily form a singular work of an hour and a half and thus does not search for experimentation or originality in music that, in fact, doesn't strive for that but is intended (by Scale the Summit themselves) as a "musical journey" and therefore doesn't actually require too much analysis (in practice: don't do what I did in the previous paragraph), what remains is an honest album of post-rock masquerading as metal. It is up to the individual's sensitivity to determine its value, much like what happens with a large portion of post-rock. Personally, I use it to fall asleep after Sunday lunches or during long car journeys, and I find that there are compositional highs and lows within it. Nonetheless, it remains a well-played album with excellent highlights, so I recommend it to anyone looking for a light yet not trivial album, while awaiting the new steps of the Texans who have (unfortunately only) confirmed their quality, from whom I expect, or at least hope for, interesting releases in the future.